Harmit L. Roped
The gift of
M. W. Fileston





Selections
FROM
FÉN ELO N.
Do
oo
BOSTON:
Roberts Brothers.
1879.


ANDOVER-HARVARD
THEOLOGICAL LIBRARI
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
Jugeo, lata
Copyright, 1879,
By ROBERTS BROTHERS.
UNIVERSITY PRESS :
JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.


PREFACE.
THIS little volume of selections from Féne-
1 lon is based chiefly on a recent translation
by Mrs. H. L. Sidney Lear, published by Riv-
ingtons, London, in two volumes; one of spirit-
ual letters to men, the other to women. I found
on comparing this translation with the French,
that, although generally faithful, and very easy
and felicitous, it did not follow the original so
closely as I should desire, and therefore I have
altered it freely in order to express the thoughts
of Fénelon as nearly as possible in his own
words, and not in a paraphrase. I am also
largely indebted to Mrs. Follen's translation,
which I have altered, whenever necessary, for
the same reason. For a portion of the “ Chris-
tian Counsels” which follow the Letters, I must
express my thanks to Mr. George P. Bradford,


Preface.
who has kindly allowed me to make use of a
small volume of selections from Fénelon, anony-
mously published by him many years ago. The
brief memoir of Fénelon is condensed from a
Life of the Archbishop by the English trans-
lator above-mentioned, with connecting sen-
tences and paragraphs occasionally supplied
from the Memoir by Mrs. Follen.


CONTENTS
PAGB
MEMOIR OF FÉNELON .........
xi
V.
Spiritual Letters to Women.
I. TO THE DUCHESSE DE BEAUVILLIERS.
ON MEDITATION AND PRAYER . .
II. TO THE COMTESSE DE GRAMONT.
THE NEED OF DEVOTION IN A
WORLDLY LIFE . . . . . .
III. TO BEAR ANNOYANCES PATIENTLY.
IV. ON KEEPING SILENCE . . . . . .
ON SILENCE AND RECOLLECTION . .
VI. EXHORTATION TO SIMPLICITY AND A
CHILDLIKE SPIRIT . . . . . .
VII. TO AVOID DISDAINFUL MANNERS . .
VIII. ACCEPTANCE OF GOD'S WILL . .
PEACE AMID TRIAL. .
NOT TO DELAY SEEKING PERFECTION.
XI. TO RESERVE TIME FOR DEVOTION .
XII. SUPPORT UNDER DIFFICULTY . . .
XIII. TO AVOID RESTLESS ANXIETY ABOUT
THE FUTURE . . . . . . . .
XIV. TO ACQUIRE THE HABIT OF RECOL-
LECTION . . . . . . . . . .
XV. SELF-RENUNCIATION THE ONLY WAY
TO PEACE . . . . . . . . .
IX.
X.
25


Contents.
PAGE
XVI. TO THE COMTESSE DE MONTBERON.
EXHORTATION TO ENTIRE TRUST
IN GOD . . . . . . . . .
XVII. TO AVOID RESTLESS ACTIVITY IN
THE SERVICE OF GOD . . .
XVIII. ADVICE CONCERNING PRAYER . .
XIX. ON LEAVING ALL TO PROVIDENCE.
XX. UPON BEARING WITH OURSELVES
AS WE BEAR WITH OTHERS. .
XXI. TO AVOID FOREBODINGS, AND LIVE
BY FAITH . . . . . . .
XXII. TO CALM THE IMAGINATION . .
XXIII. NOT TO BE DISCOURAGED BY OUR
IMPERFECTIONS . . . . . .
XXIV. NOT TO LISTEN TO THE IMAGINATION
XXV. ON THE PRIVATION OF SENSIBLE
SWEETNESS. . . . . . . .
XXVI. FAITH IN THE MIDST OF CROSSES
XXVII. TO SEE OUR FAULTS IN PEACE, IN
THE SPIRIT OF LOVE . . . .
XXVIII. TO AVOID EAGER PLANNING . .
XXIX. TO PREFER LOVE AND HUMILITY
TO LEARNING . . . . . .
XXX. TO USE WELL THE PRESENT Mo-
MENT . . . . . . . . .
XXXI. TO BEAR AFFRONTS WITH Hu-
MILITY AND IN SILENCE. . .
XXXII. ON CALMLY ENDURING THE IRREG-
ULARITIES OF OTHERS . . .
XXXIII. THE NECESSITY AND BENEFIT OF
SUFFERING . . . . . . .
XXXIV. NEED OF CALMING OUR NATURAL
ACTIVITY . . . . . . . .
XXXV. FORBEARANCE TO OTHERS ..
XXXVI. ONE'S DISPOSITION CANNOT BE
ALTERED AT ONCE . . . .
XXXVII. UPON CAM
UPON CARRYING THE SPIRIT of
PRAYER INTO ALL OUR AC-
TIONS . . . . . . . . . 54


Contents.
vii
PAGE
XXXVIII. OVER-EAGERNESS ..
XXXIX. ON DWELLING IN THE PRES-
ENCE OF GOD . . . . . .
XL. TO GAIN THE SPIRIT OF RECOL-
LECTION . . . . . . . .
XLI. HOW TO LIVE IN PEACE WITH
OTHERS . . . . . . . .
XLII. TO LABOR MORE FOR INWARD
THAN OUTWARD PERFECTION .
XLIII. TO COMBINE EXACTNESS WITH
FREEDOM
. .
XLIV. PRAYER EFFECTUAL FOR EVERY.
THING . . . . . . .
XLV. FORBEARANCE WITH THE FAULTS
OF OTHERS . . . . . . .
XLVI. DAILY CROSSES . . . . . .
XLVII. THE WILL MORE IMPORTANT
THAN THE FEELINGS
XLVIII. How TO ACCEPT ALL GOD's
DEALINGS THANKFULLY
XLIX. Self-CONSCIOUSNESS . . . .
L. ON THE SOURCES OF PEACE ...
LI. ENTIRE SELF-SURRENDER ..
LII. ON BEARING WITH OTHERS .
LIII. GENTLENESS AND HUMILITY.
LIV. ON CROSSES . . . . . . .
LV. How TO GOVERN WISELY . .
LVI. ON INDECISION AND WEAKNESS.
Letters to Men.
LVII. HAPPINESS FOUND IN THE SER-
vice of GOD . . . . .
LVIII. TO ONE IRRESOLUTE IN HIS CON-
VERSION . . .
LIX. TO FOLLOW GOD'S LEADING :.


viji
Contents.
PAGB
LX. ON SELF-CONFIDENCE . . . . 86
LXI. ON CANDOR AND HUMILITY. .
LXII. RULES FOR A Soul NEWLY
TURNED TO GOD . . . . .
LXIII. ADVICE CONCERNING THE INNER
AND OUTER LIFE . . . .
LXIV. SURRENDER TO GOD DURING IN-
WARD VICISSITUDES . . . .
LXV. PEACE IN SUFFERING . . . .
LXVI. WE MUST ENDURE THE FAULTS
OF OTHERS · · · · · · ·
LXVII. RESIGNATION TO THE WILL OF
GOD . . . . . . . . .
LXVIII. TO THE DUC DE CHEVREUSE.
ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF A
Busy LIFE . . . . . . .
LXIX. TO PRESERVE THE SPIRIT OF
PRAYER IN BUSINESS ..
LXX. THE WILL OF GOD SHOULD BE
OUR ALL
.
. .
. . . . . . 106
LXXI. ON PRAYER AND SELF-SURREN-
DER . . . . . . . . . . 107
LXXII. ON DISTRACTIONS ......
LXXIII. How TO BEAR CROSSES . . . .
LXXIV. GOD PROPORTIONS OUR SUFFER-
INGS TO OUR STRENGTH .. IN
LXXV. INDULGENCE FOR THE FAULTS
OF OTHERS . . . . . . .
LXXVI. PATIENCE WITH THE INFIRMI-
TIES OF OTHERS . . . . .
LXXVII. ANXIETY CONCERNING THE FU-
TURE . . . . . . . . . 114
LXXVIII. How TO DEAL WISELY WITH
THE FAULTS OF OTHERS . . 115
LXXIX. TO THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY.
THAT THE LOVE OF GOD
SHOULD BE OUR ONLY RULE
AND END
: 112
113
AND END
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I 18


Contents.
138
Christian Counsels.
PAGE
LXXX. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF Time 121
LXXXI. ON THE AMUSEMENTS THAT BE-
LONG TO OUR CONDITION 124
LXXXII. THE BURDEN OF PROSPERITY 127
LXXXIII. TO SUFFER IN SILENCE .. 129
LXXXIV. ON CHRISTIAN PERFECTION : 130
LXXXV. ON THE PRESENCE OF GOD. 133
LXXXVI. ON CONFORMITY TO THE WILL
OF GOD . . .
LXXXVII. ON INWARD PEACE . . . . 141
LXXXVIII. ON PRAYER . . . . . . .
LXXXIX. ON SELF-DENIAL . . .
ON TEMPTATIONS .
147
XCI. ON DEPRESSION. . . . . . 149
XCII. ON WANDERING THOUGHTS
AND DEPRESSION . . . .
XCIII. UPON DAILY FAULTS . . . .
XCIV. ON FIDELITY IN SMALL MAT.
TERS. . . . . . . . .
XCV. ON DETACHMENT FROM SELF
XCVI. ON THE PRACTICE OF Self-
RENUNCIATION . . . . .
XCVII. ON PIETY. . . . . . . .
XCVIII. ON SIMPLICITY. .....
143
.
Reflections and Meditations.
XCIX. ON TRUE DEVOTION . . . . 178
C. ON PATIENCE IN SUFFERING . 179
CI. ON SUBMISSION AND CONFOR-
MITY TO THE WILL OF GOD. 180
CII. ON THE FAULTS OF OTHERS. 182
CIII. ON THE ONE THING NECESSARY 183


Contents.
186
PAGE
CIV. ON OUR DAILY BREAD. . . . . 185
CV. ON THE PEACE OF THE SOUL . .
CVI. ON THE DEPTHS OF THE MERCY
OF GOD . . . . . . . 187
CVII. ON THE RIGHT EMPLOYMENT OF
TIME . . . . . . . . . .
189
CVIII. ON LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOR i. 190
CIX. ON TRUST IN GOD. . . . . . 191
CX. “TEACH US TO PRAY”. . . . . 192
CXI. “WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO
Do?". . . .
. . . 193


Memotr of Fénelon.
FRANÇOIS DE SALIGNAC DE LA MOTHE
T FÉNELON was born Aug. 6, 1651, at the
Château de Fénelon, about three miles from
Sarlat, in Perigord. He was a delicate child,
of a fragile and sensitive temperament, and
the idol of his old father, who kept him at
home till he was twelve years old, giving him
“ a simple Christian education, devoid of any-
thing remarkable, and probably all the better
for that,” as one of his biographers remarks.
However, the foundation of Fénelon's future
exquisite style and finished classical acquire-
ments seems to have been laid in the course
of this simple home education; for, after being
a short time at the College of Cahors, his
uncle, the Marquis Antoine de Fénelon, found
him so advanced in his education as to make
a removal to Paris desirable. Apparently, the
father of Fénelon must have died about this
time, as henceforth we hear nothing of him,


xii
Memoir of Fénelon.
but find the Marquis taking the part of father
towards his nephew, whom he removed to the
Collége du Plessis. There François speedily
distinguished himself as a scholar, and also as
possessing the gift of eloquence, for which he
became so conspicuous later. Like Bossuet,
he was put forward at fifteen to preach to an
admiring audience; and very soon his per-
sonal attractions, captivating manner, and ad-
vanced scholarship made the Marquis de
Fénelon anxious lest his young nephew should
be spoiled by the flattery and adoration of the
world. He was soon removed to the semi-
nary of Saint Sulpice, then governed by the
saintly Tronson, who thenceforward was al-
ways Fénelon's dearest friend and counsel-
lor.
The Congregation of Saint Sulpice had at
this time a large missionary establishment in
Canada, to which sundry students from the
seminary had gone ; and it seems that Fran-
çois desired to follow in their steps, and be-
come a missionary. His uncle, the Bishop
of Sarlat, was much opposed to the step, and,
though disappointed, François returned to
Saint Sulpice, and devoted himself persever-
ingly to study, until he was ordained. After


Memoir of Fénelon.
xiji
receiving holy orders, he continued to work
in the parish of Saint Sulpice, attached to the
Congregation founded by M. Olier, - a good
school for parochial work and for apostolic
self-denial, where he became acquainted with
the needs and sufferings of the poor, the sick,
and the sinful. In 1675 he desired to become
a missionary to Greece, but he relinquished
the project, probably out of consideration for
his uncle.
The next thing that we hear of him is his
appointment by the Archbishop of Paris as
Superior of the community called the Nou-
velles Catholiques. This community had been
founded in 1634, as a protection for women
converted from Protestantism, and as a means
of propagating Church teaching among those
yet unconverted. For ten years he devoted
himself to his work in connection with this
community, to study, and to the society of the
few learned and pious friends with whom he
chiefly lived. Foremost among these was his
uncle, the Marquis, who, however, died Oct.
8, 1683, and it was as the loss of a father to
Fénelon. The Duc de Beauvilliers was an-
other intimate friend, and it was at the request
of the Duchesse, who was the mother of eight


Memoir of Fénelon.
luxurious and haughty, according to the de-
scriptions they were wont to hear, from their
ministers, of the great Babylon and its deni-
zens; and when, on the contrary, they saw in
the missionaries nothing but lowly, self-deny-
ing, simple-mannered priests, whose real aim
seemed the welfare, temporal as well as spirit-
ual, of those they lived among, prejudices
began to melt away. Those who were not
converted by him were charmed with his
character; and, while they refused to yield to
his pathetic exhortations, they never refused
him their esteem and their admiration, and,
we may even say, their love and confidence.
The reputation which Fénelon acquired by
his exertions in Poitou, made him an object
of public attention, and it was not long after,
in August, 1689, that he was appointed pre-
ceptor to the Duke of Burgundy, the grand-
son of the king, and heir apparent to the
kingdom. This he owed to the friendship
and esteem of the Duc de Beauvilliers, who
had been appointed by the king to be the
governor to the young prince, and who imme-
diately named Fénelon for his preceptor.
Fénelon was at this time thirty-eight, and
the unanimous testirnony of all who have men-


xvi
Memoir of Fénelon.
tioned him in contemporaneous writings sets
him before us as a singularly gifted and at-
tractive man. The Duc de Saint Simon, him-
self too entirely a man of the world really to
understand any one who was not actuated
by a worldly spirit, and whose satirical, mis-
anthropical character colors all his impres-
sions, gives a most fascinating description of
Fénelon, although he so far misinterprets the
great Archbishop's life as to say, that "no
man ever possessed so inveterate a desire to
please every one, from the prince to the peas-
ant; and no man ever pursued that desire
with a more steady, continuous, universal per-
sistence ; neither did any one ever succeed
more entirely.” To the last sentence we may
cordially assent; but those who will patiently
follow the course of Fénelon's life will be
ready to say, that, if he possessed so strong a
desire to please, it was certainly held in very
wondrous control by a stronger conscience,
which led him to say and do things most un-
acceptable to the highest quarters when duty
interfered. In one sense it was true, for
probably few ever lived whose hearts more
abounded in love for all men, and in the con-
sequent burning desire to pour out love and
kindness upon them.


Memoir of Fénelon.
xvii
Saint Simon gives a graphic description of
Fénelon's appearance :—“This prelate was a
tall, thin man, well made, pale, with a large
nose, eyes whence fire and talent streamed as
from a torrent, and a physiognomy the like
of which I have never seen in any other man,
and which, once seen, one could never forget.
It combined everything, and the greatest con-
tradictions produced no want of harmony.
It united seriousness and gayety, gravity and
courtesy, the man of learning, the bishop, and
the grand seigneur; the prevailing character-
istics, as in everything about him, being re-
finement, intellect, gracefulness, modesty, and,
above all, noblesse. It was difficult to take
one's eyes off him. All his portraits are
speaking, and yet none of them have caught
the exquisite harmony which struck one in
the original, or the exceeding delicacy of
every feature. His manners corresponded to
his appearance, his perfect ease was infectious
to others, and his conversation was stamped
with the grace and good taste which are only
acquired by habitual intercourse with the best
society and the great world. He possessed a
natural eloquence, graceful and finished, and
a most insinuating, yet noble and appropriate


xviii
Memoir of Fénelon.
courtesy ; an easy, clear, agreeable utterance ;
a wonderful power of explaining the hardest
matters in a lucid, distinct manner. Add to
all this, that he was a man who never sought
to seem cleverer than those with whom he
conversed, who brought himself insensibly to
their level, putting them at their ease, and in-
thralling them so, that one could neither leave
him, nor mistrust him, nor help seeking him
again."
A not less attractive portrait is given us by
a very different stamp of man, the Chancellor
D’Aguesseau, who, in his Mémoires sur les
Affaires de l'Eglise de France, says : “The
Abbé de Fénelon was one of those rare men
who are destined to create an epoch in their
times, and to do honor as much to humanity
by their virtues as to letters by their exceeding
talent, — easy, brilliant, characterized by a fer-
tile, graceful, dominant imagination, which yet
never made its domination felt. His elo-
quence was rather winning than vehement,
and he reigned as much through the charm
he had in society as by the superiority of his
talents; always bringing himself to the level
of others, and never arguing, seeming, on the
contrary, to yield to others at the very time


Memoir of Fénelon.
xix
he was convincing them. His lips poured
forth graciousness, and he seemed to handle
the weightiest matters with perfect ease, while
the veriest trifles assumed dignity beneath his
hand, and he could have brought forth flowers
from amid thorns. His whole bearing was
marked with a noble singularity, and an in-
describable and sublime simplicity gave a sort
of prophet-like stamp to his character: the
fresh, though unaffected, way in which he ex-
pressed himself made many people fancy that
he knew everything by inspiration. It seemed
almost as if he had invented rather than ac-
quired the sciences. He was always original,
always creative, imitating no one, and him-
self wholly inimitable.”
His mind, dead to vanity, was in conver-
sation entirely given up to the person with
whom he conversed. Men of every profes-
sion, proficients in every branch of knowledge,
were at ease in his company. He directed
every one first to the subject he best under-
stood, and then he disappeared at once, thus
giving them an opportunity to produce out of
their own stock the materials they were most
able to furnish.
The Abbé Galet, who was continually with


XX
Memoir of Fénelon.
him, and therefore saw him under all circum-
stances, says: “I never knew him to speak
brusquely to any one, nor to the best of my
knowledge did a harsh or contemptuous word
ever escape him."
And De Ramsai writes : “He had the fac-
ulty of putting himself on a level with all
minds, never seeming to feel cleverer than
those with whom he was talking, but rather
bringing out their powers by an unconscious
graceful setting aside of his own. I have
seen him adapt himself within a short space
of time to all classes, - associating with the
great, and using their style, without any loss
of episcopal dignity, and then turning to the
lowly and young, like a kind father teaching
his children. There was no effort or affecta-
tion in his readiness to turn from one to the
other; it seemed as though his mind naturally
embraced all varieties.”
The character of the little Duke of Bur-
gundy, who was seven years old when Fénelon
took charge of him, is described as violent
and difficult to manage. “Monseigneur was
born with a disposition which made one trem-
ble," Saint Simon wrote, while the Duke was
still living. “He was so passionate, that he


Memoir of Fénelon.
xxi
would break the clocks when they struck the
hour which summoned him to some uniel-
come duty, and fly into the wildest rage with
the rain which hindered some pleasure. Re-
sistance made him perfectly furious. I have
often been a witness to this in his early child-
hood. Moreover, a strong inclination at-
tracted him to whatever was forbidden to
body or mind. His satirical power was all
the more biting that it was clever and pun-
gent, and he seized promptly on the ridiculous
side of things. He gave himself up to all
that pleased him with violent passion, and
with an amount of pride and hauteur past
description; he was dangerously quick in
penetrating both things and people, in seeing
the weak side, and in reasoning more power-
fully and deeply than his masters. But, on
the other hand, as soon as the storm of pas-
sion was over, reason would return and get
the upper hand; he would see his faults, and
acknowledge them, sometimes so regretfully
as almost to renew the storm. His mind was
lively, quick, penetrating, resolute to meet
difficulties.; literally speaking, transcendent in
every way. The marvel is, that in so short a
time devotion and grace should have made an


Memoir of Fénelon.
xxiii
silence; — nobody spoke to him if he could
help it ; his attendants waited upon him with
averted eyes, as though reluctant to witness
his degradation through passion. He was
treated with the sort of humiliating compas-
sion which might be shown to a madman;
his books and appliances for study were put
aside as useless to one in such a state, and he
was left to his own reflections. Gradually
these would bring the passionate but generous
child to a better mind; and then, full of peni-
tence, he would come and throw himself, in
the fullest affection and trust, mixed with
childish remorse, upon the never-failing pa-
tience and goodness of the preceptor, whom
he almost worshipped to his dying day, — suf-
fering more real pain from that which he was
conscious of having caused to one whom he
loved far better than he could possibly have
loved his father, than from the severest pun-
ishment that could have been inflicted. Grad-
ually he learned to assist those who strove to
conquer his faults by his own efforts.
It was during these years that Fénelon
wrote his Dialogues des Morts, and his Télé-
maque.
Those were days in which disinterestedness


xxiv
Memoir of Fénelon.
was rare, and men were not the less esteemed
because they strove to profit themselves and
their families to the utmost in whatever posi-
tion they filled. Consequently, it is the more
remarkable that not only did Fénelon make
to himself a rule, which he steadily kept,
never to ask anything on his own behalf, or
that of his family or friends, but that he actu-
ally continued in a state of extremely strait-
ened means for more than five years after
entering upon his honorable position about
the royal children. It was not till 1694 that
the king seems to have remembered or dis-
covered how badly his grandson's preceptor
was provided for. In that year, at last, he
gave Fénelon the Abbey of St. Valéry.
Meanwhile the world's honors and admira-
tion fell thick upon the Abbé, who was a univer-
sal favorite among all who knew him. He was
chosen as a member of the French Academy
in 1693. In 1695, he was elevated to the
dignity of Archbishop of Cambrai. He showed
his disinterestedness by immediately resigning
the Abbey of St. Valéry. Louis at first refused
to receive his resignation, but Fénelon insisted,
saying the resources of the archbishopric of
Cambrai were such as to make it an infringe-


Memoir of Fénelon.
XXV
ment of canonical law to hold any other pre-
ferment with it.
A short time before his nomination to the
archbishopric, his acquaintance began with
Madame Guyon, which was the cause of his
unhappy controversy with his friend Bossuet.
The doctrine of disinterested love, or that God
is to be loved for His own perfections, without
any view to future rewards or punishments,
appears to have been the radical point of con-
troversy. Those who supposed that they had
attained this habitual state of divine love were
called Quietists, from the perfect freedom from
hope or fear that it produced. They thought
that God was to be worshipped in the entire
silence and stillness of the soul, in a perfect
renunciation of self to Him.
Fénelon, who was one of four ecclesiastics
appointed to examine this doctrine of Madame
Guyon, could find nothing in it to condemn,
and he even defended her as far as he could
against her persecutors, who thus were made
enemies to himself. When he was accused
of holding doctrines contrary to the true faith,
and was called upon to make his defence
by a declaration of his true sentiments, he
· published his Explication des Maximes des


xxvi
Memoir of Fénelon.
Saints sur la Vie Intérieure. Bossuet, who
was entirely opposed to Fénelon upon the doc-
trine of disinterested love to God, used this
book as a weapon against him ; he accused
Fénelon to the king of fanaticism. As Louis
in his heart had never liked a man whose
whole life and character were a tacit reproach
upon his own, he readily believed all that was
said against him. Fénelon was forbidden to
remain in Paris, and soon after the king, with
his own hand, struck out his name as precep-
tor of the Duke of Burgundy.
The controversy, which was carried on with
great warmth by Bossuet, and supported on
the part of Fénelon with great ability, but with
unfailing meekness, was finally submitted to
the Pope and his Cardinals. The Pontiff dis-
approved of some propositions which were
advanced by Fénelon, and the Archbishop
acquiesced. The Pope is said to have made
a remark respecting the controversy, which
could not have been very pleasing to the op-
ponents of Fénelon. “ Fénelon,” he said,
“was in fault for too great love of God; and
his enemies were in fault for too little love of
their neighbor.” The enemies of Fénelon
finally succeeded in obtaining the condemna-


Memoir of Fénelon.
xxvii
tion of his book, Les Maximes. It was with
great reluctance that the Pope yielded at last
to their importunity; and, in the manner in
which he issued the decree, he showed the
greatest tenderness and respect for Fénelon.
The Comte de Fénelon, brother of the
Archbishop, heard the tidings first in Paris,
and started off instantly for Cambrai, thinking
that to receive them through a kindly channel
would at least lighten their weight; and he
arrived on the festival of the Annunciation,
just as the Archbishop was about to preach in
the cathedral. Fénelon was but human, and
it is not possible but that he must have felt the
blow; nevertheless, with his usual marvellous
sweetness and freedom from self-conscious-
ness, he was not disconcerted, as most men
would have been, but merely paused a brief
while in order to arrange his thoughts, and
then, throwing aside his intended sermon on
the special festival they were keeping, he
preached on the duty of absolute submission
to authority. The news of his trouble was
already whispered about among the congrega-
tion, which was riveted by the noble simplicity
and calm dignity of the Archbishop, and the
eyes of most overflowed with tears of admira-


xxviii
Memoir of Fénelon.
tion and respect as they listened to his heart-
felt words. He immediately prepared his
public declaration of submission to the decree
of the Pope. It was simple, entire, and with-
out any reserve. The submission of Fénelon
was neither a respectful silence nor a measure
of policy, nor any compromise with truth, but,
as he himself said to a friend, “an inward act
of obedience, rendered to God alone, accord-
ing to the principles of Catholicism. I re-
garded,” says Fénelon, “ the decision of my
superiors as an echo of the Supreme Will; I
forgot all the passions, prejudices, and dis-
putes which preceded my condemnation; I
heard God speak to me as he did to Job;
I accepted my condemnation in its most ex-
tensive sense.” He very justly discriminated
between the meaning he intended to convey
in his book and the actual sense of the text,
of which he considered the Pope the infallible
judge. While he still solemnly asserted that
it had never been his intention to advocate
those errors for which his book was con-
demned, the Pope's condemnation was suffi-
cient to convince him that these errors were
there expressed.
Fénelon seems not to have regarded his


Memoir of Fénelon.
xxix
banishment to his diocese as any calamity,
except from a fear that it might lessen his use-
fulness; he loved the country and rural pleas-
ures. In the course of his walks, he would
often join the peasants, sit down with them on
the grass, talk with them, and console them.
He visited them in their cottages, seated him-
self at table with them, and partook of their
humble meals. By such kindness and fa-
miliarity he won their affections, and gained
access to their minds. Long after his death,
the old people who had had the happiness of
seeing him on these occasions spoke of him
with the most tender reverence. “ There,”
they would say, “is the chair in which our
good Archbishop used to sit in the midst of
us; we shall see him no more"; — and then
their tears would flow. He devoted himself
to the duties and responsibilities of his diocese,
which he worked with the power of a man of
vast capacity and the simple industry of an
humble priest.“ Everything about and around
him," says Saint Simon," was in the most per-
fect order. His mornings were devoted to
diocesan business. By reason of his powerful
talent and penetration, combined with daily at-
tention to whatever claimed his eye, this was a


XXX
Memoir of Fénelon.
comparatively short and easy task. That end-
ed, he received all that sought him, then said
mass in his chapel. That done, he dined or
breakfasted with his guests, who were always
numerous, eating but little himself, yet lingering
at table for the sake of others, while charming
them by the ease, the variety, the cheerfulness
of his conversation. He then used to retire
to his study, and work there for some hours,
which were lengthened if the weather was bad,
or if he had no external duties to perform.
On leaving his study, he would go to pay need-
ful visits, or take a country walk. He spent
the evening with whoever was in his house,
supping with the military or other great people
who might arrive. He ate even less than at
dinner, and he always went to bed before
midnight.” His wardrobe was always very
scanty, and he would use none but the sim-
plest materials. He ate very little, and only
the plainest food. He gave but a short time
to sleep, and his working hours began early, so
that he had already done nearly a day's work
before saying mass.
Comparatively few of his sermons remain
to us in full written form ; his usual method
of preparing them seems to have been to


xxxii
Memoir of Fénelon.
and sect, all feelings of hatred and jealousy
that divided the nations, seemed to disappear
in the presence of Fénelon. Military escorts
were offered him for his personal security ; but
these he declined, and traversed the countries
desolated by war to visit his flock, trusting in
the protection of God. In these visits, his
way was marked by alms and benefactions.
He brought together into his palace the
wretched inhabitants of the country whom
the war had driven from their homes, and
took care of them, and fed them at his own
table. Seeing one day that one of these
peasants ate nothing, he asked him the reason
of his abstinence. “ Alas! my lord,” said the
poor man,“ in making my escape from my
cottage, I had not time to bring off my cow,
which was the support of my family. The
enemy will drive her away, and I shall never
find another so good.” Fénelon, availing
himself of his privilege of safe-conduct, im-
mediately set out, accompanied by a single
servant, and drove the cow back himself to
the peasant.
Another anecdote, showing his tenderness
to the poor, is thus related of him. A literary
man, whose library was destroyed by fire, is


Memoir of Fénelon.
xxxiii
is still manelon, Whe loss of hey had
would
deservedly admired for saying, “I should have
profited but little by my books, if they had
not taught me how to bear the loss of them.”
The remark of Fénelon, who lost his in a
similar way, is still more simple and touching :
“I would much rather they were burnt than
the cottage of a poor peasant."
One of the curates of his diocese com-
plained to him that he was unable to put a
stop to dances on the feast days. “Let us ab-
stain from amusement ourselves," said Féne-
lon to him, “but let us permit these poor
people to dance. Why prevent them from
forgetting for a moment their poverty and
wretchedness ?” He bestowed devoted care,
also, upon the sick and wounded who were
frequently brought to Cambrai. His kindness
and humanity to the sufferers in the war en-
deared him to the whole nation. His charity
embraced the rich and the poor, his friends
and his enemies. His polite attentions ex-
tended to prisoners of war, as well as to his
own countrymen.
Fénelon showed his magnanimity as well as
his charity during the war. He was then an
exile in his own diocese, and in disgrace with
the king ; but the enemy had been his pro-


xxxiv
Memoir of Fénelon.
tectors and friends; and while all France was
suffering from famine, his magazines were
filled with grain. He distributed it among
the soldiers of his unjust master, and refused
to receive any pay for it, saying, “ The king
owes me nothing, and in times of calamity it
is my duty, as a citizen and a bishop, to give
back to the state what I have received from
it.” It was thus he avenged himself for his
disgrace.
Thus passed Fénelon's life till the melan-
choly death of the Duke of Burgundy, in 1712.
His death was a sad blight upon the fairest
hopes of the nation, Fénelon's highest wishes
seemed to be realized in him ; the eyes and
hopes of all were upon him. The Duc de
Beauvilliers, to whom Fénelon was deeply at-
tached, died in 1714. This was a heavy trial,
and a profound grief to the Archbishop. He
only survived his friend four months. His
health had been feeble for some years; a
severe shock, received from the upsetting of
his carriage, induced a fever, which began
Jan. 1, 1715, and which caused his death at
the end of a week. In his last sickness, he
displayed the most admirable fortitude and
submission. There was the same sweetness


Memoir of Fénelon.
XXXV
of temper, composure of mind, love for his
fellow-creatures, and confidence in God, which
had distinguished his whole life. During the
last two days and nights he was continually
asking those around to repeat the special pas-
sages of Holy Scripture which were most
adapted to his state. “Say those divine
words again !” he often exclaimed; and then
he would try to repeat them himself with a
failing voice, while his eyes and whole coun-
tenance were lighted up with the bright ex-
pression of faith and love which the sacred
words inspired. He passed gently away at a
quarter past five on the early morning of Jan.
7, 1715, at the age of sixty-three. So ended
a life of unchanging love and union with
God.





Selections from fénelon.
SPIRITUAL LETTERS.
To the Duchesse de Beauvilliers.
ON MEDITATION AND PRAYER.
D EAD over the subject of your medita-
tion, either in the Bible or whatever
book you may be using. Pause, after a verse
or two, to follow out such reflections as God
may suggest. Consider how Jesus Christ prac-
tised the truth or the precept which he is
teaching you ; how those faithful souls whom
you yourself know are practising it; how the
world neglects it; how you have departed
from it, and why. Then lay your shame be-
fore God, prostrating yourself before him in
the solitude of your closet. Then reflect upon
the occasions which cause you to commit
these faults, and the best means of avoiding


Selections from
Fénelon.
and remedying them ; what the Lord justly
requires of you, that you may keep from such
falls, and repair the past; pray Him to fill
your heart with all that He would see in it;
ask Him to strengthen the determination to
improve, which He has given you ; trust in
His goodness, and in His solemn promises
never to forsake us in time of need ; and rest
in the hope that He will finish the good work
which He has begun in you.
In order to make this plain to you, I will
give you an illustration of my meaning. Sup-
pose the subject of your meditation to be the
first words of the seventeenth chapter of St.
John, which I was studying just before I began
to write to you: Jesus Christ, addressing his
Father, and saying, “I have glorified Thee on
the earth : I have finished the work which
Thou gavest me to do.”
Consider what is meant by glorifying God
on the earth. Jesus Christ explains it clearly
in the words, “ I have finished the work which
Thou gavest me to do.” So that to glorify
God we must know and perform that which
He gives us to do. Every one has his own
work, and every one follows it out, but not
always that work which God has given him to


Spiritual Letters.
do. All the work which I undertake from
vanity, from a desire to get on in the world,
from temper, fancy, taste self-will, or human
respect, is not that which God has given me
to do, and consequently none of this can glo-
rify Him; all such is the work of the world,
the flesh, or the Devil.
The work which God has given me to do is.
to amend whatever is amiss in my natural dis-
position, — that is what He would have me
do; correct my faults, sanctify my thoughts
and desires, become more patient, more meek
and lowly of heart. This, Madame, is your
work; and to bring up your family solely for
Him, to train it in indifference to the world,
in gentleness, patience, modesty, and a real
love of God. Examine whether you are doing
this, and how you are doing it.
Consider what the saints have done, and
are still setting before you as an example
every day. The work which God gave them
to do was often much harder than that which
He gives you. They had fewer means and
helps towards accomplishing it than you have ;
they were as weak, and subject to as many
difficulties and hindrances, yet they achieved
their end.


Selections from
Fénelon.
I speak and act on behalf of the Devil when-
ever I say or do that which is prompted by
any evil temper; I set forward his work, and
overthrow that of the Lord within me, the
work which He has begun by giving me a will
and wish to do better. Gentleness is Thy
work, my God, and it is the work Thou hast
given me to do. I cannot glorify Thee, save
by striving after and fulfilling it in myself.
O God, am I called to put up with being
badly served? I will do so gladly, if only I
can thereby serve Thee well. My work is not
to be well served, but to serve Thee well, to
be gentle and patient under all that disturbs
me.
There are a thousand like matters in daily
life, which I cannot enumerate here, but which
you can see for yourself how to deal with, so
as to seek in prayer for strength from God to
amend what is amiss, and confirm what is
good. Everything which we see in the world
can serve to keep us in the presence of
God.
Do not trust to your good intentions if they
are barren and without result. Labor bravely
to become gentle and humble of heart. If
something is done amiss which only affects


Spiritual Letters.
you personally, and what is due to yourself,
bear it without saying anything. If any hasty
word has escaped you, after inward humilia-
tion for it, make amends by speaking kindly,
and doing some little act of kindness, if pos-
sible, to those whom you have treated rudely.
Never forget how God has dealt and does
deal with you continually, how gently and pa-
tiently. Let that be your example ; learn
from Him how to deal with others.
Do not be disheartened by your falls. In-
asmuch as they clearly point out your weak
places, they ought to make you more humble,
and more diligent in self-watchfulness, and in
constant recourse to God as a means of pres-
ervation.
II.
To the Comtesse de Gramont.*
THE NEED OF DEVOTION IN A WORLDLY LIFE.
Oct. 2, 1689.
TT seems to me, Madame, that you have
1 two things to do, – one with respect to
your engagements, the other with respect
* The following fifteen letters are all addressed
to the same lady.


6
Fénelon.
Selections from
to yourself. The first consists in the care
you should take to redeem some brief time
from the world for reading and prayer. Try
to rescue half an hour morning and even-
ing. You must learn, too, to make good use
of chance moments, - when waiting for some
one, when going from place to place, or when
in society, where to be a good listener is all
that is required. One raises one's heart for
an instant to God, and renews one's strength
for further duties. The less time one has, the
more important it is to husband it. If you
wait till you have regular and convenient
hours at your disposal to fill with substantial
duties, you run the risk of waiting too long,
especially in your kind of life ; you must
seize every chance moment. It is not in piety
as in temporal affairs. The latter require free
and regular seasons of continuous application ;
but piety has no need of such consecutive
labor; in a moment you can recall the pres-
ence of God, love Him, adore Him, offer Him
what you do or what you suffer, and calm be-
fore Him all the agitation of your heart. Take
then, Madame, half an hour in the morning,
and another half-hour in the afternoon, to re-
pair the inroads which the world makes; and,
.


Spiritual Eetters.
in the course of the day, make use of such
thoughts as touch you most, to renew yourself
in the presence of God.
The other duty which you owe to yourself
is not to be discouraged, either by experience
of your weakness, or by disgust at the agitated
life which you lead. The only point is, to be
faithful, patient, and peaceful under the crosses
of your present condition, which you have not
chosen, and which God has appointed accord-
ing to His purposes.
As to faults, they are harder to bear with ;
but they will turn to good, if we make use of
them to humble ourselves, without slackening
in the endeavor to correct ourselves. Dis-
couragement would remedy nothing ; it would
simply be the despair of wounded self-love.
III.
TO BEAR ANNOYANCES PATIENTLY.
A S to daily matters which appertain to
your duties, or to providential arrange-
ments, although they may be inconvenient or
distracting, you have only to endure them in
peace. Behind each importunate intruder,


Selections from
Fénelon.
learn to see God governing all, and training
you in self-denial alike through a troublesome
acquaintance as through good examples. The
intruder whom God sends us serves to thwart
our will, upset our plans, to make us crave
more earnestly for silence and recollection, to
teach us to sit loose to our own arrangements,
our rest, our ease, our taste; to bend our will
to that of others, to humble ourselves when im-
patience overcomes us under these annoyances,
and to kindle in our hearts a greater thirst for
God, even while He seems to be forsaking us
because we are 'so disturbed.
Whatever comes from God's hand bears
good fruit. Often those things which make
you sigh after solitude are more profitable for
your humiliation and self-denial than the most
utter solitude would be. Let us go on as God
leads us from day to day, making good use of
every moment, without looking beyond it.
Sometimes an exciting book, a fervent medita-
tion, or a striking conversation, would gratify
your taste, and make you feel satisfied and
full of yourself, would persuade you that you
were far advanced, and, while giving you fine
thoughts about crosses, would only render
you more haughty, and make you more sen-


- Spiritual Letters.
II
need better than you do, surrounds you with
restraints and hampering claims. The hin-
drances which beset you in the order of
God's Providence will profit you more than the
sweetness of self-chosen prayer. You know
very well that retirement is not essential to
the love of God. When He gives you time,
you must take it and profit by it; but mean-
while abide in faith, satisfied that what He
gives you is best. Often lift up your heart to
Him, without making any outward sign ; talk
only when it is necessary; and bear patiently
with what crosses you. You have more need
of self-denial than of light. If you are faith-
ful in keeping silence when it is not necessary
to speak, God will preserve you from evil when
it is right for you to talk.
Your portion is to love, to be silent, to suffer,
"to sacrifice your inclinations, in order to fulfil
: the will of God, by moulding yourself to that
of others. Happy indeed you are thus to
bear a cross laid on you by God's own hands,
in the order of His Providence. The dis-
cipline which we choose for ourselves does
not destroy our self-love like that which God
assigns us Himself each day. All we have to
do is to give ourselves up to God day by day,


12
Fénelon.
Selections from
without looking further. He carries us in His
arms as a loving mother carries her child.
Let us believe, hope, love, with all the sim-
plicity of children. In every need let us look
with love and trust to our Heavenly Father.
VI.
EXHORTATION TO SIMPLICITY AND A CHILDLIKE
SPIRIT.
To one ever needed inward nourishment,
silence, reflection, separation from the
world, mistrust of self and inclination, more
than you. You cannot practise too rigid a
fast from the charms of worldly talk. You
must be lowly, become as a little child, seek-
ing only swaddling-clothes and pap, and even
then you will be a naughty child !
Talk when you are alone ; you cannot talk
too much then, for it will be to God alone
that you will tell your troubles, your needs,
and your longings. But in society you can
hardly talk too little. It must not be a cold,
disdainful silence, however, but rather a silence
full of deference to others. I should be de-
lighted to have you speak only to praise,


Spiritual Letters.
13
approve, sympathize, comply; but I am sure
that if you speak in this manner only, you
will say very little, and that conversation will
seem tame to you. Constrain yourself then
to say little, to speak simply and modestly,
to give the precedence to other speakers,
and to preserve recollection even in conver-
sation.
VII.
TO AVOID DISDAINFUL MANNERS.
!D VERYTHING like a proud or disdain-
il ful manner, all that savors of ridicule
or censoriousness, indicates a soul full of
. itself, unconscious of its own faults, a prey
' to fastidiousness, and finding pleasure in the
· troubles of others. Nothing ought to humble
us more than this sort of pride ; so easily
wounded, contemptuous, disdainful, haughty,
jealous of its own rights, and always unfor-
giving towards the defects of others. One is
· very imperfect, when one is so impatient with
I the imperfections of others. Pray, read, hum-
ble your spirit by a taste for simple things.
Seek your strength in silence.


Selections from
Fénelon.
VIII.
ACCEPTANCE OF GOD'S WILL.
REAR all the annoyances of your present
condition, which is full of inconven-
iences and discomfort, in a penitential spirit;
these are the penances God assigns you, and
far more useful than what you may choose for
yourself. The best state to be in is that in
which God's hand holds you ; do not look
beyond it, and think only of accepting every-
thing from moment to moment, in the spirit
of self-denial and self-renunciation. But this
acquiescence should be full of trust in God,
who loves you more the less He spares you.
IX.
PEACE AMID TRIAL.
THE peace which you find in submission,
1 without any change in outward mat-
ters, is a great gift. By it God trains you
to bear trial without despondency ; although
your shrinking weak nature is depressed, your
inner mind is upheld. Such a peace is all


Spiritual Letters.
15
the purer that it is somewhat bare and dry.
Happy they who are ready to accept every-
thing; who never say, It is too much ; who
depend, not on themselves, but upon the Al-
mighty ; who ask only such measure of con-
solation as God wills to give them, and who
live by His will alone!
X
NOT TO DELAY SEEKING PERFECTION.
V E ought to become holy in the state in
V which Providence has placed us, with-
out making projects of goodness in the future ;
and we need the greatest faithfulness to God
in the smallest things.
Most people spend the best part of their
life in knowing and regretting their habits, in
intending to change them, in making rules for
some future time which they hope to have,
but which often is not given to them, and
thereby losing the time which they ought to
employ in performing good deeds and work-
ing out their salvation.
You should treat such ideas as a very dan-
gerous temptation. Our salvation is the work


Spiritual Letters.
17
things for His service and for our salvation,
but whatever our hand finds to do, and which
belongs to our state of life. The smallest
things become great when God requires them
of us; they are small only in themselves ;
they are always great when they are done for
God, and when they serve to unite us with
Him eternally.
It seems to me that a soul which sincerely .
desires to belong to God never looks to see
whether a thing is small or great; it is enough
for it to know that He for whose love it is
done is infinitely great, and that it is His due
to have all creation solely devoted to His
glory, which can only be by fulfilling His will.
Bear this continual burden in peace, and
you will not fail to advance in the narrow way.
One suffers, one is surrounded by contrarie-
ties, one is even deprived of spiritual conso-
lations; but one is free, because one wishes
all that one has, and would not wish to be
delivered from it. One bears one's own weak-
ness, and one prefers it to the most attractive
conditions, because it is God's choice. The
great thing is to suffer without being discour-
aged.


18
Fénelon.
Selections from
XI.
TO RESERVE TIME FOR DEVOTION.
V OU greatly need certain free hours in
1 which you could recollect yourself. Try
to steal some, and be sure that these little
parings of your days will be your best treas-
· ures. Above all, save your morning, and
defend it as one defends a besieged city;
make vigorous sallies upon intruders ; clear
the trenches, and then shut yourself up within
your citadel. Even the afternoon is too long
a period to let pass without taking breath.
Recollection is the only cure for your
haughtiness, the sharpness of your contemp-
tuous criticism, the sallies of your imagina-
tion, your impatience with those who serve
you, your love of pleasure, and all your other
faults. This is an excellent remedy, but it
needs to be frequently renewed.
If you have not much time at your disposal,
do not fail to profit by the smallest portions
of time which remain to you. We do not
need much time in order to love God, to
renew ourselves in His presence, to lift up our
hearts towards Him, to worship Him in the


Spiritual Letters.
19
depths of our hearts, to offer Him what we do
and what we suffer. This is the true Kingdom
of God within us, which nothing can disturb.
XII.
SUPPORT UNDER DIFFICULTY.
V OU need not doubt, Madame, as to what
1 is your support under your difficulties.
God is using them to detach you from your-
self, and from the comfortable side of life.
Recollection and fervor would do much less
to lower your pride, and crucify your over-
indulged senses.
Let your own choice incline always to read-
ing, prayer, solitude, and silence. Be firm;
deny yourself, especially at night, to prepare
for yourself a more uninterrupted morning ;
but when Providence brings you unavoidable
hindrances, do not be disturbed. Where-
soever God may lead you, there you will find
Himself, in the most harassing business as in
the most tranquil prayer.


Spiritual Letters.
21
pensation of God; we see them without grace!
to bear them ; we see them indeed through a
faithless spirit which banishes grace. So, every-
thing in them is bitter and unendurable ; all
seems dark and helpless. “Sufficient unto
the day is the evil thereof,” said Jesus Christ;
the evil of each day becomes good when we
leave it to God. Who are we that we should
ask Him, “Why doest Thou thus?” It is the
Lord, and that is enough ; it is the Lord, let
Him do as seemeth Him good. Let us throw
self aside; no more self-interest, and then
God's will, unfolding every moment in every-
thing, will console us also every moment for
all that He shall do around us, or within us,
for our discipline.
What ! shall we be disheartened when it is
'the hand of God which is hastening to perform
His work? It is what we are every day wish-
. ing that He should do ; but when He begins
I to do it we are troubled, our cowardice and
impatience hinder Him.
“May the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, keep your heart and mind in
Christ Jesus.” Cut away every root of bitter-
ness, and cast aside whatever troubles the
peace and simple trust of the children of God.


22
Fenclon.
Selections from
Let us turn to our Father in all our misfor-
tunes; let us sink into that tender bosom,
where nothing can fail us; let us rejoice in
hope, and, far from the world and the flesh,
let us taste the pure joy of the Holy Spirit.
May our faith be unmoved in the midst of
tempests; and may we ever hold firmly to
these great words of the Apostle : “All things
work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to His pur-
pose."
XIV.
TO ACQUIRE THE HABIT OF RECOLLECTION.
| THINK that you should try, without any
1 painful effort, to occupy yourself with
God as often as a longing for recollection,
and regret that you cannot practise it, touch
ryour heart. You must not wait for disengaged
hours, when you can close your door and see
, nobody. The moment in which we crave
after recollection is that in which we may
practise it. Immediately turn your heart to
God, simply, familiarly, and trustfully. All the
most interrupted seasons are good, not only
when you are out driving, but also when you ,


Spiritual Letters.
23
are dressing, having your hair arranged, even
when you are eating, and when others are
talking. Useless and tiresome details in con-
versation instead of fatiguing you will relieve
you, by giving you intervals for recollection ;
instead of exciting your ridicule, they will give
you freedom to collect your thoughts; and
thus all things turn to good for those who seek
God.
Another very important rule is to abstain
from any fault whenever you perceive that you
are about to commit it, and to bear coura-
geously the humiliation involved if you only
discover it when committed. If you perceive
it before committing it, beware of resisting the
Spirit of God, who is warning you inwardly,
and whose voice you might stifle. Let every-
thing in you yield to Him the moment He
makes Himself felt. Faults of haste or frailty
are nothing in comparison with those which
close the ear to the secret voice of the Holy
Spirit, which is beginning to speak in the
depths of the soul. -
. As to faults which are not perceived till
· after they are committed, disquiet and the
vexation of self-love will never make amends;
on the contrary, this vexation is only the im-


24
Fénelon.
Selections from
patience of pride at the sight of what is up-
setting to it. So the only way to deal with
such faults is to humble yourself in peace. I
say in peace, because one does not humble
one's self when one takes humiliation with
vexation and reluctance. You ought to con-
demn your fault without seeking to soften it
by any excuse, and to see yourself before God
in this state of confusion without being irri-
tated at yourself and disheartened, but profit-
ing in peace by your humiliation for your -
fault.
Often all that we offer to God is not that
which He wills. What He desires most of us
is what we are least willing to give Him, and
what we dread to have Him ask of us. It
is Isaac, the only son, the well-beloved, that
He commands us to resign ; all the rest is
nothing in His sight, and He lets it be pain-
ful and fruitless, because His blessing is not
upon the labor of a divided soul ; it is His
will that we should yield everything to Him ;
and, short of this, there is no repose. If you
would prosper, and have God's blessing on
your work, withhold nothing, cut to the quick, .
burn, spare nothing, and the God of peace :
will be with you. What consolation, what


· Spiritual Letters.
25
liberty, what strength, what enlargement of
heart, what growth in grace, when there is
nothing left between God and the soul, and
when we have offered everything to Him to
the uttermost, without hesitation !
XV.
SELF-RENUNCIATION THE ONLY WAY TO PEACE.
Co long as we dwell within ourselves, we
on shall be a prey to the opposition, the
malignity, the injustice of men. Our temper
, brings us into collision with other tempers;
, our passions clash with those of our neigh-
· bors; our wishes are so many tender places
· open to the shafts of those around; our pride,
· which is incompatible with our neighbors',
' rises like the waves of a stormy sea ; — every-
: thing rouses, attacks, rebuffs us. We are ex-
posed on all sides by reason of the sensitive-
ness of our passions and the jealousy of our
pride. No peace is to be looked for within
when one lives at the mercy of a crowd of
greedy and insatiable desires, and when we
can never satisfy this “me” which is so keen
and so touchy as to whatever concerns it.


26
Fénelon.
Selections from
Hence in our intercourse with others we are
like invalids who have been long confined to
the bed, who cannot be touched anywhere
without pain. A sickly self-love, full of pity
for itself, cannot be touched without scream-
ing. Touch it with the end of your finger,
and it thinks itself flayed alive. Then add to
this sensitiveness the roughness of other peo-
ple, full of imperfections unknown to them-
selves, their disgust at our defects (at least as
great as ours toward theirs), and you find all
the children of Adam tormenting one another;
half of mankind made unhappy by the other
half, and rendering them miserable in their
turn.
: The only remedy is to come out of one's
· self in order to find peace. We must re-
nounce ourselves, and lose all self-interest,
that we may no longer have anything to lose,
to fear, or to contrive. Then we shall enjoy
the true peace reserved for “men of good
will ; " that is, for those who have no longer
any will but God's, which becomes theirs.
Then men will not be able to harm us ; they
can no longer attack us through our hopes or
our fears ; then we are willing to accept every-
thing, and we refuse nothing.


28
Fénelon.
Selections from
nothing then but to fail God, and you must
not fear even that so far as to be distressed
about it. Bear with yourself, then, as we bear
with our neighbor without flattering him in his
imperfections. Put aside all your mental and
spiritual fastidiousness which you are disposed
to display towards God as well as to men.
There is a great deal of refined selfishness
and complacency in all that. Be simple with
Him who loves to communicate Himself to
simple souls. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,”
- who have taken the vow of spiritual pov-
erty, who live from day to day by continual
alms, and by absolute self-surrender to Provi-
dence.
XVII.
TO AVOID RESTLESS ACTIVITY IN THE SERVICE
OF GOD.
VOU are not mistaken, Madame, in be-
1 lieving that it is not enough merely to
change the object of eagerness, and that there
is a restless eagerness which needs moderating,
even in God's service, and the correction of
our own faults. This thought may be of great
use in calming without relaxing your energy.


Spiritual Letters.
29
The eagerness with which you set about the
best things mars them, and throws you into
an excitement which is all the more opposed
to the peacefulness of the Spirit of God, be-
cause you strive to control it, and hide it
within you, out of mere worldly courtesy. A
little simplicity would enable you to exercise
the same virtue with less effort.
As to dress, it seems to me that you ought
to consider M. de Montberon's tastes and
wishes; it is for him to decide upon these
little proprieties. If he inclines to economy
in these matters, you should retrench as far as
he thinks desirable, in order to pay his debts.
If he wishes you to keep up a certain external
style, do whatever he seems to desire, simply
to please him, and nothing beyond to indulge
your own tastes. If he has no preference,
and leaves you entirely to your own judgment
in this matter, I think that a medium course
would be the best self-denial for you. You
are inclined to extremes ; entire magnificence
alone can satisfy your fastidiousness and pride.
A severe simplicity is another refinement of
self-love ; then we renounce grandeur in a
striking manner. The middle course is insup-
portable to pride. It makes you seem wanting


30
Fénelon.
Selections from
in taste, and causes you to feel commonplace.
I am told that you formerly dressed like the
Sisters of a Community; this was too much in
appearance, and too little in reality. Modera-
tion in dress will cost you much more in the
bottom of your heart; but your unfailing rule
should be perfect openness with M. de Mont-
beron, and unhesitating compliance with what-
ever you see pleases him best.
XVIII.
ADVICE CONCERNING PRAYER.
A S for prayer, use it not merely at ap-
I pointed times, but further, in the in-
vals between your other occupations, as far as
1 you feel able and desirous for it; but be care-
ful to husband your strength, bodily and men-
! tal, and stop whenever you feel weary. Always
begin with the most weighty points which have
struck you when reading. Follow the leading
of your heart so as to sustain yourself with the
loving Presence of God. Cling closely to this
adorable Friend ; dwell in Him with an un-
bounded trust, and say to Him all that the
: simplicity of love shall inspire in you. After


Spiritual Letters.
31
having spoken to Him out of the abundance
of your heart, listen to Him inwardly, silencing
your fastidious and restless spirit. As to dis-
tractions, they will die away of themselves if
you never encourage them voluntarily, if you,
from choice, always dwell in love, if you are
not distracted by the fear of distractions, and
if, when you find your imagination wandering,
you recall it quietly and without vexation to
your devotions.
Follow trustfully the attraction God gives
you towards His infinite perfection. Love
Him as you would wish to be loved; it is not
giving Him too much ; this measure is not
excessive. Love Him according to the ideas
which He gives you of the greatest love.
Speak and act without so much circum-
spection. If you are absorbed in God, you
will be less eager to please men, but you
wwill please them more.
XIX.
ON LEAVING ALL TO PROVIDENCE.
TOTHING is so trying to nature as sus- !
pense between a faint hope and a :


32 Selections from Fénelon.
"mighty fear; but we must live in faith con-
cerning the extent of our trials, as in all else.
Our sensitiveness often tempts us to believe
that our trials are beyond our strength ; but
we know neither the strength of our heart nor
the trials of God. Only He who knows the
whole — both our hearts, which He Himself has
made, with all their secret folds of which we
are ignorant, and the extent of the trials which
He gives us — knows how to proportion these
two things. Let us then leave all to Him, and
be content to suffer without listening to our-
selves. What we believe impossible is so only
to our softness and cowardice; what we think
overwhelming overwhelms only pride and self-
: love, which cannot be too much.crushed.
As to prayer, Madame, fear nothing. There
is no illusion in following God's leading, in
abiding in His presence, absorbed in wonder
and love, provided this absorption never gives
us the foolish idea that we are far advanced ;
provided it does not prevent us from feeling
our weaknesses, our imperfections, and our
need of amendment; provided it leads us to
neglect none of our duties, external or inter-
nal; provided we remain sincere, humble,
simple, and docile to those set over us. Do


Spiritual Letters.
not hesitate then ; accept God's gift ; open
your heart to Him ; get strength from Him.
So long as you think only of God, love Him,
abide in His presence, and cleave to His will,
without presumption, without neglecting any
duty or relaxing in precept or counsel, without
wandering from obedience and the ordinary
path, you will be in no danger of delusion.
Follow God's leadings.
XX.
UPON BEARING WITH OURSELVES AS WE BEAR
WITH OTHERS.
DEOPLE who love themselves only through
1 charity, as they love their neighbor,
bear charitably, though without flattery, with
themselves as they bear with their neighbor in
his imperfections. They know what needs to
be corrected in themselves as well as in others;
they strive earnestly and vigorously to correct
it, but they manage themselves as they would
another whom they would lead to God. They
set to work patiently, not exacting more than
is practicable under present circumstances
from themselves any more than from others,


34
Fénelon.
Selections from
and not being disheartened because they can-
not become perfect in one day. They con-
demn unsparingly their slightest failings, they.
see them in all their deformity, they endure
all the humiliation and sorrow involved. They
neglect no means of amendment, but they
are not fretful while so doing. They do not
listen to the pettishness of pride and self-love,
which mingle their excessive activity with the
deep and quiet emotions which grace inspires
in us for the correction of our faults. That
sort of irritable pettishness only serves to dis-
courage a soul, to occupy it with all the refine-
ments of self-love, to repel it from serving God,
to weary it in its way, to lead it to seek pleas-
ures and consolations contrary to His will, to
dry it up, distract, exhaust it, to prepare for it
a sort of disgust and despair of being able to
hold on to the end of its course. Nothing so
hinders souls as these fits of inward peevish-
ness, when one yields to them voluntarily ; but
if one only endures them without clinging to
them, and without causing them by the reflec-
tions of self-love, these troubles turn into true
crosses, and consequently into sources of
grace. They are ranked among the other
trials by which God purifies and perfects us.


30
Fénelon.
36
Selections from
wherever He puts us, and any other would be
undesirable, all the worse because it would
please our fancy, and would be of our own
choice.
Do not think about distant events. This
uneasiness about the future is unwholesome
for you. When God gives you help, see Him
alone in it, and take it day by day, as the
Israelites their manna, without ever providing
a store to last from one day to another.
The life of pure faith does two things :
first, it makes us see God behind all the frail
agents He uses; secondly, it keeps the soul
ever in a state of suspense. One is always as
if in the air, without being able to touch the
ground; the comfort of one moment never
serves for the comfort of the following mo-
ment. We must leave to God all that depends
on Him, and think only of being faithful in
all that depends upon ourselves. This de-
pendence from one moment to another, this
darkness, this peace of the soul amid the un-
certainty of what will happen to it each day,
is a real inward and noiseless martyrdom ; it
is being burned by a slow fire. It is so slow
and so interior that it is often nearly as much
hidden from the soul which suffers it as from


Spiritual Letters.
37
those who do not know the state of things.
When God takes away that which He has given
you, He knows well how to replace it, either
through other means or by Himself. When
St. Paul the hermit was in a solitary desert, a
raven brought him half a loaf of bread every
day. If the saint had wavered in his faith,
and had wished to secure another half-loaf for
the following day, perhaps the raven would
not have returned. Eat then in peace your
half-loaf of each day, which the raven brings
you. “ The morrow shall take thought for
the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day
is the evil thereof." He who feeds you to-day
is the same who will feed you to-morrow.
XXII.
TO CALM THE IMAGINATION.
I BEG you to stay in bed as long as for-
I merly, and to await sleep there when it
has left you. It returns when one awaits it in
peace; but, when one follows one's imagina-
tion, one banishes it more and more. I shall
not have a good opinion of your inward state
until you possess your soul in patience, enough


Selections from
.
Fénelon.
to sleep quietly. I require of you only calm-
ness and docility. You will tell me that
calmness of the imagination does not depend
on ourselves. Pardon me, it depends very
much on ourselves. When we cut off all the
uneasy thoughts in which the will has a share,
we greatly diminish those which are involun-
tary. God will watch over your imagination
if you do not keep up the disturbance by your
scrupulous reflections.
Abide in peace. Do not listen to your
imagination, which is too lively and too full
of fancies. This excessive activity consumes
your body, and dries up your inward life.
You are preying upon yourself uselessly. It
is merely your restlessness which hinders
peace and interior grace. How can you ex-
pect God to speak in that gentle and inward
voice which melts the soul, when you are
making so much noise with your rapid reflec-
tions. Be silent, and God will speak again.


Spiritual Letters.
39
XXIII.
NOT TO BE DISCOURAGED BY OUR IMPERFEC-
TIONS.
May 8, 1703.
THERE is a very subtle illusion in your
1 troubles, in that you appear to your-
self to be wholly occupied with what is due to
God, and His glory alone ; but, in the depths
of your heart, it is owing to yourself that you
are in trouble. You wish indeed that God
should be glorified, but you wish that it should
be through your own perfection, and in that
way you sink back into all the scruples of your
self-love. The true use to make of all the
imperfections which you see in yourself is
neither to justify nor to condemn them (for
this judging would bring back all your scru-
ples), but to offer them to God, conforming
your heart to His concerning those things
which you cannot understand, and abiding in
peace, because peace is according to God's
order, in whatever state we may be.


Selections from
Fénelon.
DISQUE
XXIV.
NOT TO LISTEN TO THE IMAGINATION.
ISQUIETUDE is the only obstacle which
I fear; I distrust nothing but yourself.
Stop all your doubting and scrupulous
thoughts; let them buzz in your imagination,
like bees in a hive : if you excite them, they
will grow angry, and will do you much harm;
if you let them alone without touching them,
you will suffer from nothing but the buzzing
and the fear. Accustom yourself to remain
in peace in the depths of your heart, in spite
of your restless imagination.
XXV.
ON THE PRIVATION OF SENSIBLE SWEETNESS.
July 30, 1703.
C OD does not intend either to discourage
U or to spoil you. Give yourself up then
to these vicissitudes which give so many shocks
to the soul; which, however, by accustoming
it to have no abiding condition, make it supple
and plastic to receive whatever impressions


Spiritual Letters.
41
God is pleased to give. It is a kind of foun-
dry for the heart. By dint of melting, all the
outlines of self are lost. Pure, clear water has
neither color nor form, it always takes the color
and form of the vessel containing it. Be the
same with God.
As to painful or humiliating reflections,
whether concerning your faults or your tem-
poral condition, treat them as the sensitive-
I ness of self-love ; pain about all these things
( is more humiliating than the things themselves.
, Put all together, the thing which afflicts you
, with your affliction about the thing, and carry
, this cross without thinking either of throwing
, it off or of keeping it. As soon as you bear
it with this indifference about it, and this sim-
· ple fidelity to God, you will have peace; and
· the cross will become light, in this wholly dry
'and simple peace.
XXVI.
FAITH IN THE MIDST OF CROSSES.
EVERYTHING is a cross : I taste nothing
I but bitterness. But we must bear the
heaviest cross in peace; when we cannot even
bear or drag it, we must abide crushed and


42
Fénelon.
Selections from
buried beneath it. I wish that God may spare
you while giving you wherewith to suffer ;
it is our daily bread. God only knows the
right proportion, and we must live by faith, in
order to believe without seeing that God, in
His mercy, proportions our trial to the aid
that is within us, unknown to ourselves.
XXVII.
TO SEE OUR FAULTS IN PEACE, IN THE SPIRIT
OF LOVE.
D o not be disquieted about your faults.
' Love without ceasing, and much will
be forgiven you, because you will have loved
much. We seek satisfactions for our self-love
and visible supports instead of seeking love.
We even mislead ourselves by seeking less to
love than to see that we love. “We are,"
says St. Francis de Sales, “more occupied
with love than with the beloved.”
Faults perceived in peace, in the spirit of
love, are immediately consumed by love itself ;
but faults perceived in a pettish fit of self-love
disturb peace, interrupt the presence of God,
and the exercise of perfect love. Vexation at


Spiritual Letters.
43
a fault is generally more of a fault than the
fault itself. You are scrupulous about the
least unfaithfulness. I judge of your fidelity
by your peace, and by the freedom of your
heart. The more peaceful and free your
heart is, the more you will become one with
God.
XXVIII.
TO AVOID EAGER PLANNING.
ESUME prayer and communion, my
I daughter, at whatever cost. You have
withered your heart by your eagerness in wish-
ing a certain thing without knowing whether
God willed it; this is the cause of all your
suffering. You have spent a great deal of
time in unfaithfully forming plans which were
cobwebs, – a breath of wind blows them away.
You have withdrawn insensibly from God, and
God has withdrawn from you. You must re-
turn to Him, and give up everything unreserv-
edly to Him. You will have no peace except
through this surrender. Let go all your plans;
God will do as He pleases with them. Even
if they should succeed through earthly means,
God would not bless them; but, if you wholly


44
Fénelon.
Selections from
offer them up to Him as a sacrifice, He will
turn everything to His own merciful purposes,
whether He does what you have desired, or
whether He never does it. The essential
| thing is to resume prayer, whatever dryness,
i distraction, or weariness you may find in it.
XXIX.
TO PREFER LOVE AND HUMILITY TO LEARNING.
PEOPLE cannot become perfect by dint
1 of hearing or reading about perfection.
· The chief thing is not to listen to yourself,
but silently to listen to God; to renounce all
vanity, and apply yourself to real virtues ;
. to talk little, and to do much, without caring
to be seen. God will teach you much more
than all the most experienced persons and
all the most spiritual books. Do you need to
be so learned in order to know how to love
God and deny yourself for His love? You
know much more of good than you practise.
You have much less need of gaining fresh
knowledge than of putting in practice that
· which you have already acquired.


Spiritual Letters.
45
XXX.
TO USE WELL THE PRESENT MOMENT.
I IVE in peace, Mademoiselle, without,
I thinking about the future. Perhaps
there may not be a future for you. Even the
present is not yours, and you must use it ac-
cording to the will of God, to whom alone it
belongs. Go on with the exterior works you
have in hand, since you find them easy and
attractive ; keep your rule, in order to avoid
dissipation and the consequences of your
excessive liveliness. Above all, be faithful to
the present moment, which will bring you all
needful grace.
The real learning you need is stripping off
self, deep recollection, silence of the whole
soul before God, renunciation of intellect, a
taste for lowliness, obscurity, helplessness, and
self-humiliation.
Your remedy for dissipation and dryness
will be to reserve for yourself regular seasons
for prayer and reading; to enter into outward
affairs only when it is really necessary; and
to attend more to softening the harshness of
your judgment, to restraining your temper,


Spiritual Letters.
47
You need all your resolution in your present
position, but at the same time your quickness
of temper requires checks and impediments.
Possess your soul in patience. Renew your-
self often in the presence of God, so as to
calm yourself, to humble and adapt yourself
to the little ones. Nothing is really great
save lowliness, charity, distrust of self, de-
tachment from one's own opinion and will.
(All stiff, harsh goodness is contrary to Jesus,
Christ.
XXXII.
ON CALMLY ENDURING THE IRREGULARITIES OF
OTHERS.
A HEATED imagination, vehement feel-
ing, hosts of reasons, and volleys of
words, effect nothing. The right way is to
act as in the presence of God, wholly di-
vested of self, doing what we can by God's
light, and being content with such success as
He gives. This continual death to self is a
blessed life which but few understand. A
word uttered simply in this inward peace
effects more, even in external affairs, than all
the most eager and bustling exertions. As it


48
Fénelon.
Selections from
is the Spirit of God which then speaks, it
speaks with His power and authority. It en-
lightens, persuades, touches, and edifies. We
have said almost nothing, but we have done
everything. On the contrary, when people
let loose their natural excitability they talk in-
terminably, they make a thousand subtile and
superfluous reflections, they are always afraid
of not saying and doing enough, they become
excited, exhaust themselves, grow angry, they
depart from the object, and no good is done.
Your temperament has great need of these
maxims; they are hardly less necessary for
your body than for your soul.
Let the river flow beneath its bridges ; let
men be men, that is to say, weak, vain, in-
constant, unjust, false, and presumptuous. Let
, the world still be the world ; and verily you
, cannot hinder it. Let all follow their own
; bent and their own habits; you cannot form
| them over again ; the shortest way is to let
i them alone and to bear with them. Accus-
tom yourself to unreasonableness and injus-
tice. Abide in peace in the bosom of God,
who sees all these evils more clearly than you
do, and who permits them. Be content with
doing without excitement the little which


Spiritual Letters.
49
depends on you, and let all else be to you as
if it were not.
XXXIII.
THE NECESSITY AND BENEFIT OF SUFFERING.
A CROSS borne simply, without the ad-
11 ditions of an ingenious self-love, is
only half a cross. Those who suffer with this
loving simplicity are not only happy in spite
of the cross, but they are even happy because
of it; for love delights in suffering on behalf of
the beloved, and the cross which likens them
to their Beloved One is a consoling bond of
love.
Bear the heavy burden of a very aged per-
son who can no longer bear her own. Reason
becomes weak at so great an age ; goodness
itself, unless very deeply rooted, seems to
grow slack; temper and restlessness acquire
all the strength which the mind loses, and
theirs is the only activity which remains.
Surely this is a good and precious cross !
You must welcome it, and bear it daily, per-
haps even unto death.
It is a blessing and a comfort that you have
some hours of freedom to rest in peace in the


50
Fénelon.
Selections from
bosom of our Lord. That is where you must
refresh yourself, and gain new strength before
you begin your work again. Take care of
your health, and relieve your mind by inter-
vals of repose, of joy, and of innocent free-
dom. As age advances, less and less must
be expected of a person who has no resources.
You must expect almost nothing of her, and
you must not expect too much of yourself.
XXXIV.
NEED OF CALMING OUR NATURAL ACTIVITY.
I AM afraid lest your natural activity should
1 consume you amid the painful circum-
stances which surround you. You cannot
take too much pains to subdue your natural
temperament by prayer, and by a frequent
renewal of God's presence during the day..
Let us abide in peace, fulfilling all our out-
ward duties as well, or as little amiss, as we
can, while inwardly we are absorbed by Him,
who alone is worthy of all our love.
Whenever you become conscious of the im-
pulses of your nature, throw them aside, so
that grace may possess you wholly. You


Spiritual Letters.
51
must stop as soon as you find that nature is
gaining the victory. This faithfulness does
almost as much good to the body as to the
soul. One neglects nothing, and yet one is
not troubled, like Martha.
XXXV.
FORBEARANCE TO OTHERS.
I AM sorry for you ; but suffering is need-
1 ful for us. We are sent into the world
only to be purified by dying to our inclina-
tions and to all our own will. Let self die in
you then : you have excellent opportunities
for so doing ; what a pity to let them be lost !
I am convinced, as you are, that the daily rule
must not be relaxed in any way; but you
must deal gently with the infirmities of others.
You must learn at times to slip quietly over
certain little matters, while you need all your
firmness in those which you believe essen-
tial.
But remember that true firmness is gentle,
humble, and tranquil. Anything like sharp,
haughty, and restless firmness is unworthy of
God's work. We are told that Wisdom


Spiritual Letters.
53
cided; it is your natural character — you
must feel it. We must bear with self without
flattery, and without neglecting the means
necessary to correct it. While waiting for
God to deliver us from self, we need to be
undeceived about it. Let us humble our-
selves beneath His powerful hand ; let us be-
come supple and pliable, yielding to Him as
soon as we feel any resistance of self-love.
Abide in silence as much as you can ; avoid
deciding, withhold your opinions, your likes
and dislikes. Pause, and break off your ac-
tivity whenever you perceive that it is too
eager. Do not let yourself follow your de-
sires too eagerly, even for good.
What I most desire for you is a certain
calmness, which comes from recollection, de-
tachment, and love of God.
Occupy yourself as little as possible about
external matters. Give at proper seasons a
quiet, calm attention to those things assigned
to your care by Providence ; leave the rest.
We do much more by quiet, tranquil labor in
the presence of God, than by the greatest
eagerness and over-activity of a restless na-
ture.


Selections from
Fénelon.
XXXVII.
UPON CARRYING THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER INTO
ALL OUR ACTIONS.
D o not be discouraged at your faults ;
bear with yourself in correcting them,
as you would with your neighbor. Lay aside
this ardor of mind which exhausts your body,
and leads you to commit errors. Accustom
yourself gradually to carry prayer into all your
daily occupations. Speak, act, work in peace,
as if you were in prayer, as indeed you ought
to be.
Do everything without eagerness, in the
spirit of grace. As soon as you perceive your
natural impetuosity gliding in, retire quietly
within, where is the kingdom of God. Listen
only to the leadings of grace, then say and do
nothing but what the Holy Spirit shall put in
your heart.
You will find that you will become more
tranquil, that your words will be fewer and
more effectual, and that, with less effort, you
will accomplish more good.
It is not a question of a perpetual struggle
of the understanding, which would be imprac-


Spiritual Letters.
55
ticable, but a question of accustoming your-
self to a peace in which you will easily consult
your beloved Lord as to your duty. This
very simple and short consultation will be
more easily held than the eager and tumult-
uous debates which we usually hold with self,
when we yield to our natural impetuosity.
When the heart is already turned towards
God, we can easily form the habit of suspend-
ing the natural movements of ardent feeling,
and of waiting for the moment when we can
act under the impulse of God's grace.
I entreat you to try to train yourself to this
dependence on the inner voice, then all your
life will gradually become a prayer. You may
suffer, but a peaceful suffering is only half a
suffering.
XXXVIII.
OVER-EAGERNESS.
V OU must stifle your restlessness, renounce
1 your self-will, retrench petty curiosity,
your longings after success, and your eager-
ness to attract what gratifies self-conceit. Si-
lence, whereby to cultivate the presence of
God, is the best remedy for our troubles ; it


Spiritual Letters.
57
with God; for instance, while doing needle-
work maintain a close sense of the presence
of God. The thought of His presence is less
easily preserved in conversation, but even then
you can frequently recall a general conscious-
ness of it, overruling your every word, and re-
pressing all that is over-eager, all sallies of
pride or contempt, all the sensitiveness of
self-love.
Bear with yourself, but do not flatter your-
self. Work effectually and steadily, yet calmly
and without the impatience of self-love, at the
correction of your faults.
XL.
TO GAIN THE SPIRIT OF RECOLLECTION.
IT seems to me that you have only two
I things to do, one of which is to avoid
whatever dissipates and excites you, whereby
you cut off the source of dangerous distrac-
tions, which dry up prayer. You cannot ex-
pect to find interior nourishment if you live
only for what is exterior. Faithfulness in re-
nouncing whatever makes you too eager and
impetuous in conversation is absolutely neces-


58
Fénelon.
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sary, if you would win the spirit of recollec-
tion and prayer. No one can have a relish
for God and the world at the same time ; and
you will carry to your hours of prayer the
same spirit which you have during all the rest
of the day.
After retrenching whatever superfluities dis-
sipate your mind, you must try often to renew
your strength in the presence of God, even in
the midst of those occupations which are right
and necessary, that you may not pursue them
in a spirit of self-will.
Try to act continually by the leadings of
grace and in the spirit of self-renunciation.
By degrees you will come to it, by frequently
checking the rapidity of your lively disposi-
tion, in order to listen to God's voice within,
and to allow Him to take possession of you.
XLI.
HOW TO LIVE IN PEACE WITH OTHERS.
"In order to be satisfied even with the best
I people, we need to be content with little,
and to bear a great deal. Even the most per-
fect people have many imperfections; we


Spiritual Letters.
59
ourselves have as great defects. Our faults !
combined with theirs make mutual toleration,
a difficult matter; but we can only “fulfil the,
law of Christ” by“ bearing one another's bur-i
dens." There must be a mutual, loving for-,
bearance. Frequent silence, habitual recol-
lection, prayer, self-detachment, giving up all
critical tendencies, faithfulness in putting aside
all the idle imaginations of a jealous, fastidious
self-love, — all these will go far to maintain
peace and union. How many troubles would
be avoided by this simplicity! Happy is he!
who neither listens to himself nor to the idle
talk of others.
Be content to lead a simple life where God'
has placed you. Be obedient, bear your little
daily crosses; you need them, and God gives
them to you only out of pure mercy.
XLII.
TO LABOR MORE FOR INWARD THAN FOR OUT-
WARD PERFECTION.
VOU are good; you want to be better,
1 and you are making great efforts in the
details of life ; but I am afraid that you are en-


60
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croaching rather too much upon the inner life
in order to adapt the outer life to the demands
of society, and that you are not sufficiently de-
nying the very inmost self. When we fail thor-
oughly to attack the internal stronghold of
self-will concerning those things we love best,
and reserve for ourselves most jealously, I will
tell you what ensues. · On the one side, great
impetuosity, sharpness, and hardness of that
same self-will; on the other hand, a scrupu-
lous notion of a certain symmetry of external
virtues, which resolves itself into a mere ob-
servance of regularity and propriety. Thus
externally comes great restraint, and internally
a very lively state of rebellion, — an altogether
intolerable struggle.
Try, then, to work a little less from outside,
and a little more from within. Take the
strongest desires and affections which rule in
your heart, and place them without condition
or limits in God's hands, to be subdued and
overruled. · Resign to Him your natural
haughtiness, your worldly wisdom, your de-
light in the greatness of your house, your
dread of want of consideration in the world,
your harsh severity against whatever is irreg-
ular.


:
Spiritual Letters.
As for your temper, it is what I fear least
for you ; you know and distrust it ; in spite
of your resolutions it carries you away, and, in
so doing, it humiliates you. Thus it will tend
to correct other and more dangerous faults.
I should be less grieved to see you petulant,
cross, abrupt, wanting in self-command, and,
as a result, thoroughly ashamed of yourself,
than strictly correct and externally irreproach-
able, but fastidious, haughty, harsh, hard, ready,
to take offence, and self-sufficient.
Accustom yourself in God's sight, and
through experience of your incurable weak-1
nesses, to compassion and forbearance to-,
wards the imperfections of others. Earnesti
prayer will soften your heart, and make it,
gentle, pliable, accessible, kindly. Would you i
like God to be as critical and hard towards ,
you as you often are towards your neighbor ?,
We sometimes indulge in certain half-con-
cealed clingings to our grandeur, our reputa-
tion, our comforts. If we look carefully within
ourselves, we shall find that there are certain
limits beyond which we refuse to go in offer-
ing ourselves to Him. We hover around
these reservations, making believe not to see
them, for fear of self-reproach, — guarding


62
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Selections from
them as the apple of the eye. If any one
should break down this intrenchment, we
should be touched to the quick, and inex-
haustible in fine reasons to justify our feel-
ings; a convincing proof that we depend too
much on such things. The more we shrink
from giving up any such reserved point, the
more certain it is that it needs to be given up.
If we were not fast bound by it, we should
not make so many efforts to persuade our-
selves that we are free.
Let us not bargain with God with a view to
what will cost us least and bring us in most
comfort. Let us seek only self-denial and the
cross. Let us love, and live by love alone.
Let Love do whatsoever He will to root out
self-love. Let us not be content to pray
morning and evening, but let us live in prayer
all day long. Let this prayer, this life of love,
which means death to self, spread out from
our seasons of prayer as from a centre over
all that we have to do. All should become
prayer, that is, a loving consciousness of God's
presence, whether it be social intercourse or
business. Such a course as this will insure
you a profound peace.


Spiritual Letters.
65
confess that your exactitude has not yet
reached the point I could desire ; still, on the
whole, I believe that you need most to lean
towards confidence in God, and a great en-
largement of heart. Therefore I do not hesi-
tate to say that you ought to yield wholly to
the grace with which God sometimes draws
you closer to Him.
Do not be afraid to lose sight of self, to fix
your gaze solely on Him, and as closely as,
He will permit, and to plunge wholly into the
ocean of His love, — too happy if you could
do it so entirely as never to find yourself
again. Nevertheless it is well, whenever God
gives you this desire, to accept it with an act
of humility, and of loving, childlike fear, which
will prepare your soul for fresh gifts. This is
the counsel St. Theresa gives, and I think it
may safely be given to you.
XLIV.
PRAYER EFFECTUAL FOR EVERYTHING.
V OU will never take care of M. so well as
1 by continuing constant in prayer. Our
own spirit, however wise it may seem, spoils


66
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everything ; only that of God insensibly brings
to an end the most difficult things. The
troubles of life overpower us, its crosses over-
whelm us; we fail in patience and gentleness,
or in quiet, even firmness; and so we cannot
persuade others. God alone holds human
hearts in His hands; He sustains ours, and
opens that of our neighbor. Pray, then, con-
tinually and with all your heart, if you want to
lead your flock safely. “Except the Lord
keep the city, the watchman watcheth but in
vain.”
We can only win the guiding Spirit by
prayer. The time which seems wasted in it
is our best-spent time. You will gain more
for the advancement of your outward duties
by leaning in complete dependence upon the
Spirit of Grace, than by any amount of rest-
less, over-anxious toil. If your meat is to do
the will of your Heavenly Father, you will often
feed by seeking that will at its source.


68
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Selections from
tions, in order to deprive them of all inward
self-satisfaction. It would be far less trying
to them to be corrected of certain involuntary
failings than to feel conquered by their weak-
nesses. Everything in its own time. Self-
reliance, even in the matter of curing one's
faults, fosters a hidden conceit.
Bear with your neighbors then, and tolerate
their infirmities. Sometimes your heart shrinks
when you are shocked by certain faults, and
you may fancy that it is a repugnance arising
from grace, while perhaps it is only your natu-
ral impetuosity which causes it. I think you
need more forbearance, but I also think that
your faults, like those of others, must be cor-
rected, not by force or severity, but by dint
of simply yielding to God, and letting Him
do as He will to enlarge your heart and render
it supple. Acquiesce, without anxiously in-
quiring how He will do it.
XLVI.
DAILY CROSSES.
TAKE care of your health, about which I
have some anxiety, from what I hear;


Spiritual Letters.
69
take as much rest and relief as you can. The
more you accept daily crosses as daily bread,
in peace and simplicity, the less they will
injure your frail, delicate health ; but fore-
bodings and frettings would soon kill you.
XLVII.
THE WILL MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE
FEELINGS.
EELING does not depend on yourself,
T and love does not depend upon feeling.
Your will depends on yourself, and that is
what God requires of you. Of course, action
must follow upon the will, but often God does
not require great things of us. To regulate
your household, keep your affairs in good
order, bring up your children, bear your
crosses, dispense with the empty pleasures of
the world, indulge your pride in nothing, re-
press your natural haughtiness, strive to become
simple, frank, lowly, to be silent, recollected,
given to the life which is hid with Christ in
God ; — these are the works which please
God.
Refuse nothing to God, and do not go for-


70
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ward prematurely in affairs where you do not
as yet see His will. Each day will bring its
own crosses and sacrifices; when God wills
you to pass into another state of things, He
will prepare you for it, unconsciously to your-
self.
XLVIII.
HOW TO ACCEPT ALL GOD'S DEALINGS THANK-
FULLY.
O not seek the pleasure which you find
1 in the society of worthy people who
esteem you, out of self-indulgence, but, on the
other hand, do not give way to scruples about
accepting such consolation when Providence
sends it. God would have you take what
comes, and not run after what does not come.
Accept what is given you with simplicity, look-
ing only to God, who thus upholds you in
your weakness, and bear in faith the privation
of whatever He takes away to teach you de-
tachment. When you have learned thus tran-
quilly to accept all the variableness of others
towards you, as permitted by God on purpose
to mould you, you will find that what pleases
you will be no disturbance to your prayers,


Spiritual Letters.
71
and that privations will not lead to vexation
or depression.
Go on trustfully and without fear. As to
your petty weaknesses, you must accustom
yourself to look at them with hearty condem-
nation, but without impatience or depression.
And, with a view to their correction, bring
back your heart as often as may be through
the day to the calming influences of prayer,
and the familiar presence of God.
XLIX.
SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS.
I QUITE understand that all your troubles
1 come from excessive self-consciousness,
and from letting yourself be too much guided
by feeling. As soon as you cease to find
prayer a perceptible solace to you, you are
tempted to be discouraged. Do you desire
to be at peace? Try to be less occupied with
yourself, and more with God.
One of the most dangerous delusions of
self-love is when we grow sentimental over
ourselves, are perpetually self-engrossed, and
are absorbed in ourselves with a restless,


76
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Selections from
ity or inclination. Often it is enough simply
to turn aside from the natural eagerness which
prompts you, and you will find yourself un-
consciously returning to the influence of
grace. Occupy yourself little with your neigh-
bors' affairs; ask little, expect little of them,
and do not be ready to fancy that people are
wanting towards you whenever self is tempted
to feel somehow affronted. Let it all pass
away, and bear such annoyances as do not
pass away with meekness. So doing, you will
accomplish whatever you have to do quietly
and without anxiety or hurry. But, to main-
tain such peace, you must continually cast
aside whatever tends to disturb it. You must
often silence yourself, in order to hearken to
the Master speaking within, and teaching you
all His truths.
I see by your letter that you are convinced
that our friends ... have been greatly want-
ing in what is due to you. It may be so, but
I do not believe that it was intentional. I
am not going to make excuses for them, but
I think you ought to beware of the exceeding
keenness with which you have felt their con-
duct. A sudden change in friends is painful,
and it is hard to bear; one easily perceives a


78
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Selections from
forget your supreme interest, Eternity. “Learn
of me,” Jesus Christ says to you, "for I am
meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall find
rest unto your souls.” Be sure that grace,
inward peace, and the blessing of the Holy
Spirit will be with you, if you maintain gen-
tleness and humility amid all your external
perplexities.
LIV.
ON CROSSES.
V OU do well in leaving our friends' confi-
1 dence to come and go as they will.
One learns to bear what is wearisome, and
sensitiveness wears off when we persevere
in putting aside all brooding on self. The
less we expect from our neighbor, the more
kindly and helpful to every one we shall be-
' come.
The heavier your crosses are, the more care-
ful you should be not to add to them. And
you do add to them, either by making vain
efforts against Providence from without, or by
other no less vain struggles within. You must
be motionless beneath the Cross; keep it as
long as God gives it, without trying to move it


80
Fénelon.
Selections from
cide slowly, but firmly. Above all, correct
yourself if you would be able to correct
others.
LVI.
ON INDECISION AND WEAKNESS.
TOD'S peace can only be found when all
u self-seeking and self-will are utterly
thrown aside. When you cease to be eager
for anything save the glory of God, and the
fulfilment of His good pleasure, your peace
will be as deep as the ocean, and flow with
the strength of a flood. Nothing save hold-
ing back, the portion of an undecided heart,
the hesitation of a heart which fears to give
too much, can disturb or limit that peace,
which is as boundless as God Himself. The
indecision of your mind, which cannot be
steadfast when things are settled, causes you
a great deal of utterly useless trouble, and
hinders you in God's ways. You do not go
on, you simply go round and round in a circle
of unprofitable fancies.
The moment that you think of nothing save
God's will you will cease to fear, and there
will be no hindrance in your way. Cast aside


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Selections from
add the prospect of a blessed and eternal life,
in comparison with which this is nothing but
a slow death.
Whatever crosses a man may bear in the
Christian life, he never need lose that blessed
peace of heart through which he accepts every
suffering, desiring no joys which God denies.
Does the world give as much? You are ac-
quainted with it. Are men of the world always
satisfied with all that they have, and content
without those things which are lacking? Do
they do everything from love, and with all
their heart?
What do you fear? To leave that which
will soon leave you, which is, indeed, already
slipping away from you, which can never fill
your heart, which turns to deadly weariness,
and ever bears with it a melancholy void, and
even a secret reproach in the depths of the
conscience ; in short, which is worthless even
while it dazzles ?
Oh! what do you fear? To find a virtue
too pure to imitate, a God too good to love,
an attraction which shall no longer leave you
free to follow selfish desires or earthly vani-
ties?
What do you fear? To become too hum-


Spiritual Letters.
ble, too much detached from self, too pure,
too just, too reasonable, too grateful to your
Father in Heaven? Oh! fear nothing so
much as this unjust fear, and this foolish wis-
dom of the world, which hesitates between
God and self, between vice and virtue, be-
tween gratitude and ingratitude, between life
and death.
Do you think that the infinite God cannot
fill and satisfy your heart? Distrust yourself,
and all created things; they are all a mere
nothing, which cannot satisfy the heart of man
which was made for the love of God. But
never distrust Him who is the sole good, and
who mercifully fills your heart with dissatis-
faction towards all other things, that it may be
constrained to return to Him.
LVIII.
TO ONE IRRESOLUTE IN HIS CONVERSION.
LJONESTLY, what substantial, defined
11 difficulties have you to bring forward
against the truths of religion ? Nothing, but
a fear of constraint and of being obliged to
lead a sober and uncomfortable life ; a fear


84
Fénelon.
Selections from
of being led farther than you wish in the road
to perfection. It is because you are learning
to value religion, to feel its due claims, and to
see the sacrifices which it demands, that you
fear it, and shrink from giving yourself up
to it.
But permit me to tell you that you do not
yet know how sweet and how lovable it is.
You see what it takes away, but you do not
see what it gives. You exaggerate its sacri-
fices without looking at its consolations. No,
indeed, it leaves no void in the heart. It will
lead you to do those things which you will
enjoy doing, and which you will learn to pre-
fer to all which has so long led you astray.
If the world never exacted anything but what
your heart could accept lovingly, would it not
be a better master than it is?
LIX.
TO FOLLOW GOD'S LEADING.
THERE is a time for everything, and it
1 is most important never to anticipate.
One of the weightiest rules of the spiritual
life is to abide in the present moment, with-
out looking beyond.


Spiritual Letters.
85
The question is not how to go fast, but
well. If one of your domestics, on a journey,
was always trying to get on faster, you would
say to him: “Friend, you will travel fast
enough, if you never stop, if you follow the
road which I shall appoint, and arrive on the
day which I have fixed.” This is just what
God says to you, and the manner in which He
would have you serve Him. No will, even in
the most important matters, but to follow His.
will. Now give all your heed to laying the
foundations of the building, digging them
deep by entire self-renunciation and unre-
served yielding to God's orders. After that,
God will raise on this foundation such a build-
ing as shall seem good to Him. Give your-
self up to Him, and close your eyes. This
walk of faith, such as Abraham's, knowing not
whither you go, is a noble walk, and full of
blessings. Then God Himself will be your
guide, and will journey with you as it is said
that He journeyed with the children of Israel,
leading them through the Desert unto the
Promised Land. How happy you will be if
you allow God to take full possession of you,
to work in you all that He wills, according to
His own views for you, not according to your
own choice !


86
Fénelon.
Selections from
LX.
ON SELF-CONFIDENCE.
W E must bear patiently with ourselves
V without self-flattery, submitting un-
ceasingly to all that tends to conquer our
inward likes and dislikes, that we may become
more compliant with the Gospel of Grace.
But this work must be done peacefully, and
without anxiety; it should even be moderate,
not aiming to do the whole in a day. Try to
discuss little, and to do much. If we do not
take care, all our life will be spent in theoriz-
ing, and we should require another life for
practice. There is some risk of thinking our-
selves advanced in proportion to the enlight-
ened views concerning perfection which we
hold ; whereas all these fine ideas, so far from
promoting self-mortification, only tend to fos-
ter the lower life in us, through self-confi-
dence.
· I advise you always to be on your guard
against haughtiness, self-confidence, and over-
decision in speech. Be gentle and humble
in heart, that is to say, let gentleness spring
from real humility; harshness and want of


Spiritual Letters.
87
moderation come only from pride. To grow
milder we need to bcome humble in the
depths of the heart. A humble heart is al-
ways kind and pliable at bottom, even when
the outside is rough, owing to the sallies of a
gruff and irritable temper. Watch, pray,
labor, bear with yourself, without self-flattery.
Let your reading and your prayers tend to
enlighten you as to your faults, to correct
them, and to overcome your natural disposi-
tion, in the presence of God.
LXI.
X ON CANDOR AND HUMILITY.
PE kindly, without pride or imperiousness,
D censoriousness, disdain, fastidiousness,
or any jugglery of self-love. Be true and
in frank in spite of yourself. Be faithful in re-
nouncing your vanity and the sensitiveness
of your self-love, as soon as God shows
them to you. I pray God to make you gen-
tle, simple, and childlike, like Jesus, who was
born in a manger. Do not be clever, dog-
matic, or quick to notice the faults of others,
or sensitive and ready to take offence, or will-


88
Fénelon.
Selections from
ing to appear better thaŋ you are. Refrain
from all inquisitiveness which excites you, and
be careful never to talk unnecessarily about
things which you know better than those
around you.
LXII.
RULES FOR A SOUL NEWLY TURNED TO GOD.
V OUR letter is all I could wish; it tells
1 all as to the past, and promises all for
the future. As to the past, there is nothing
to be done save to leave it to God with hum-
ble trust, and to seek to make amends for it
by unremitting fidelity. People ask for pen-
ance for the past; but what penance can be
greater and more salutary than to bear present
crosses patiently? It is a true reparation for
past vanities to become humble, and to be
willing to be laid low by God; the severest
of penances is to do God's will instead of our
own, every day and every hour, in spite of
repugnance, disgust, and weariness.
Let us then think only of the present, and not
even permit our minds to wander with curiosity
into the future. This future is not yet ours;
perhaps it never will be. It is exposing our-


Spiritual Letters.
89
selves to temptation to wish to anticipate God,
and to prepare ourselves for things which He
may not destine for us. If such things should
come to pass, He will give us light and strength
according to the need. Why should we de-
sire to meet difficulties prematurely, when we
have neither strength nor light as yet provided
for them? Let us give heed to the present,
which is pressing upon us; it is fidelity to the
present which prepares us for fidelity in the
future.
X Accustom yourself to commune with God,
not with thoughts deliberately formed to be
expressed at a certain time, but with the feel-
ings with which your heart is filled. If you
enjoy His presence, and feel drawn by the
attraction of His love, tell Him that you de-
light in Him, that you are happy in loving
Him, and that He is very good to inspire so
much affection in a heart so unworthy of His
love. At such times of fervor your heart will
easily pour out of its abundance. But what
shall you say in seasons of dryness, coldness,
weariness ? Still say what you have in your
heart. Tell God that you no longer find His
love within you, that you feel a terrible void,
that He wearies you, that His presence does


90
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Selections from
not move you, that you would fain leave Him
for the lowest amusements, that you will never
be easy till you are far from Him, and full of
self. You will only have to tell Him all the
evil which you know of yourself. You ask
what to say to Him? Well ! is there not here
only too much matter for conversation? In
telling Him all your troubles, you will be ask-
ing Him to cure them. Say to Him: “O
God, look upon my ingratitude, my incon-
stancy, my unfaithfulness ! Take my heart,
for I know not how to give it to Thee! Keep
it, for I know not how to guard it for Thee !
Give me whatever outward troubles and
crosses are needful to keep me under Thy
yoke ! Have pity upon me in spite of my-
self !”
Thus you will always have enough to say to
God, either of His mercies or of your needs;
it is an inexhaustible subject. In either case,
tell Him unreservedly whatever is in your
mind, with the simplicity and familiarity of a
child towards its mother.
Occupy yourself during the day with your
duties, controlling expenses, watching over
the welfare of your household, working at the
education of your children with a gentle au-


Spiritual Letters.
93
You have great helps in the knowledge you
have acquired; you have read many good
books, you know the true foundations of re-
ligion, and the weakness of all that is opposed
to it. But all these means, which lead you to
God in the beginning, would hinder you in
the end if you should trust too much to your
own light. The best and highest use of your
mind is to learn to distrust yourself, to re-
nounce your own will, and to submit to the
will of God in simple faith, like a little child.
It is not a question of doing difficult things;
do the smallest and most ordinary actions
with a heart turned towards God, as one who
is seeking the sole end of his being ; you will
do all that others do, except sin. You will be
a good friend, obliging, and courteous, and
cheerful, at such seasons and in such company
as are fitting for a true Christian. You will be
sober and moderate at table, and everywhere
else ; moderate in speech, moderate in ex-
pense, moderate in judgment, in your inter-
course with others, in amusement; temperate
even in your wisdom and foresight. The love
of God teaches this universal sobriety in the
use even of all that is best with a beautiful
simplicity. Those who learn it are not aus-


Spiritual Letters.
95
without affectation of either good or ill, but
firm in what is right, and so decided that no
one can hope to drag you back. You will get'
off better, and be less tormented by others'
when they are convinced that you are thor-/
oughly devoted to religion, and that you will •
not yield. Those who are suspected of weak-
ness, inconsistency, or insincerity, are sure to i
be beset with importunity.
Put your trust, not in your own strength,
nor in your resolutions, nor in the best possi-
ble precautions (though these should be taken
with all care and vigilance), nor even in any
promises you may make, but solely in God's
goodness, who loved you from eternity, be-
fore you loved Him, and even when you
were ungrateful to Him.
LXIV.
SURRENDER TO GOD DURING INWARD VICISSI-
TUDES.
I ET your heart go as God leads it, some-
I times up, sometimes down ; such vicis-
situdes are severe trials. If we were always
in trouble, we should become hardened to it,


96
Fénelon.
Selections from
· or else fail under it; but intervals of calm,
when we can take breath, restore our strength,
and make the renewal of our griefs more bitter
than before.
As for myself, when I suffer I can see noth-
ing but unlimited suffering before me; and
when the time of consolation comes, my natu-
ral impulse is to dread accepting it, lest it be
a mere delusion, which will make the renewed
cross heavier. But it seems to me that true
fidelity is to take good and evil alike, as they
come, being willing to undergo all such dis-
turbances. We ought to allow ourselves to
be comforted when God comforts us, to be
overtaken when God overtakes, and afflicted
when He afflicts.
While saying all this to you, I myself have
a horror of all that the experience of these
things brings with it. I shudder at the mere
shadow of the cross; but the outward cross
would be nothing without the inward cross,
which is desolation, dread, and agony. I say
this to you without much purpose, just because
it is what is occupying my mind at this mo-
ment. My heart to-day is in a state of dry
and bitter peace ; I know not what to-morrow
will bring. God will do as seemeth Him


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Fénelon.
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as well as of pain. On the contrary, a cross
not fully and simply accepted, but resisted by
the love of self, even slightly, is a double cross ;
it is even more a cross, owing to this useless
resistance, than through the pain it necessarily
entails.
Generally, we bargain with God; we wish
always to set a limit, and to see the end of
our trouble. The same hidden root of obsti-
nate self-love which makes us need crosses,
makes us repulse them, and hinder their work.
And so it has to begin again continually; we
suffer, yet do not allow the mission of suffer-
ing to be accomplished in us. I pray the
Lord that we may none of us fall into that
torpid state in which our crosses do us no
good. St. Paul says that “God loveth a
cheerful giver.” How much more must He
love those who give up cheerfully all their
own will, to surrender themselves wholly to
His crucifying dealings with them !
torpid that we may none of us: I pray


Spiritual Letters.
99
LXVI.
WE MUST ENDURE THE FAULTS OF OTHERS.
TT has appeared to me that your heart
I needed enlargement with regard to the
faults of others. I grant that you cannot
help seeing them when they are prominent,
nor avoid your thoughts as to the principles
on which certain people appear to act. You
cannot even avert a certain pain which these
things give you. It is enough if you are will-
ing to bear with their faults, to form no judg-
ment in doubtful cases, and not to cherish
that degree of pain which would separate you
from the offenders.
Perfection easily bears with the imperfec-
tions of others, and makes itself all things to
all. We must learn to put up with the great-
est defects in worthy souls, and quietly leave
them alone till God gives the signal for gradu-
ally removing them ; otherwise, one would
uproot the good grain with the tares.
Such persons must labor in their own meas-
ure at self-amendment, and you must labor to
bear with their weaknesses. You ought to re-
member, from your own experience, that cor-


100
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Selections from
rection is a bitter thing, and this should lead
you to soften it to others. You have not
naturally so much an ardent zeal to correct
others, as a great fastidiousness which shuts
your heart to them.
LXVII.
RESIGNATION TO THE WILL OF GOD.
I ENTER into your troubles; would that I
could do something more! You must
imitate Abraham's faith, and go on, not know-
ing whither. We only lose our way when we
choose our own aim. Whoever seeks God's
will alone, finds it everywhere, whithersoever
God's providence leads him, and so he never
goes astray. True resignation, having no self-
ish path, and no aim at self-pleasing, goes al-
ways straight on, as God pleases. The straight
way lies in renouncing self, so that God may
be all, and we ourselves nothing.
Fear your eager liveliness, your taste for the
world, your secret ambition, which slips in
unperceived. Do not become over-excited
by political conversations, or social inter-
course, which dissipates your mind, and unfits


Spiritual Letters.
IOI
you for recollection and prayer. Speak little,
be brief, economize your time, work methodi-
cally and steadily, let deeds take the place of
fine words.
I repeat, the future is not yet yours; per-
haps it never will be. Limit yourself to the
present; eat your daily bread. “To-morrow
will take care for the things of itself; suffi-
cient unto the day is the evil thereof." You
have not to-day grace for to-morrow; that
will only come with to-morrow's need. The
present moment is a brief eternity to us.
LXVIII.
To the Duc de Chevreuse.
ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF A BUSY LIFE.
T HAVE often noticed that you were always
1 in a hurry to go from one occupation to
another, while at the same time each particu-
lar thing carries you too far. This is because
you give way overmuch to your tendency to
dissect everything. You are not slow, but
you are lengthy. You spend a great deal of
time upon each thing, not from slowness of
action, — on the contrary, your work is often


102
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Selections from
hurried, — but owing to the quantity of detail
you take in. You want to say everything that
has the smallest connection with what is in
hand, you are always afraid of not saying
enough; and this makes every proceeding
too long, and obliges you constantly to hurry
from one thing to another without interval.
If you could be briefer, each matter would
find room, and drop into its place without
hindrance ; but, to attain brevity, you must
learn to retrench whatever is not essential,
and to avoid a precision of detail which en-
cumbers that which is really necessary with
superfluities. In order to be sober in word,
you must be sober in thought; you must not
follow your natural impulse to convince others.
You will only reach the source of evil by fre-
quently withdrawing yourself into an interior
silence. Such a silence of simple prayer would
soon calm that actively argumentative mind,
and soon God's Spirit would cast out all your
speculation and discursiveness. You would
learn to look at each matter from a simple,
clear point of view ; you would speak as you
think; you would say what has to be said in
two words, instead of taking so many means
to convince men. You would be less bur-


Spiritual Letters.
103
dened, less excited, less distracted, freer, more
easy, more methodical, though without effort,
more decided, both on your own behalf and
your neighbors'. Moreover, this silence, which
would greatly tend to expedite external matters
of business, would accustom you to do even
your business in a spirit of prayer. Every-
thing would be made easier to you; but other-
wise you will become more and more pressed,
weary, and spent, and the business which
overpowers the interior needs of the soul will
likewise overpower the health of the body.
In God's name, cut these things short from
morning to night, but deal with yourself in
the same way as with others. Silence your-
self inwardly; return to frequent, earnest
prayer, but without effort, rather dropping all
thought than struggling against those which
arise, and seeking such as do not offer them-
selves. Such calm and leisure will forward
your affairs in a way which eagerness and
forced efforts will never do. Listen rather
less to your own thoughts, so as to be able to
listen more to God. I venture to promise
that if you are thus faithful to your own inward
light on every occasion, you will soon find
relief in your work, be more able to satisfy


Spiritual Letters.
105
LXIX.
TO PRESERVE THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER IN
BUSINESS.
IF you can wean yourself from all that is
1 mere idle curiosity and superfluous rea-
soning, you will gain a great deal of time for
meditation and for business. The spirit of
prayer will make you simple, concise, clear,
moderate in thought and word, calm under
difficulties. Self is active, wordy, vacillating,
impulsive, many-sided, for ever aiming at what
is impossible, losing sight of the end for the
sake of the means, wanting to convince, please,
conciliate all. The spirit of grace calmly seeks
nought save to be faithful, not fearing but that
faithfulness will overcome all hindrances. This
is the peace which the world can neither give
nor take away, and which exceeds all human
conception.
What I most desire for you is recollection
and a tolerably frequent pause amid so much
that must dissipate your mind. A state of
continual mental activity, unless absolutely
required by God, exhausts and dries up the
inner life. You remember how Jesus Christ


106
Fénelon.
Selections from
was wont to take his disciples apart, and inter-
rupt even their most urgent business. Some-
times he would leave the multitude which
“came from afar," and waited for his minis-
try; he would withdraw from them, and say
to his disciples, “ Come ye apart.” Suffer me
to say the like to you. It is not enough to
act or to give ; we must know how to receive,
to imbibe, to yield ourselves calmly to the
divine impress.
LXX.
THE WILL OF GOD SHOULD BE OUR ALL.
I WISH you that peace of heart, and joy in
the Holy Spirit, which are found in the
midst of all the crosses and temptations of life.
This is the essential difference between Baby-
lon and the City of God. The inhabitant of
Babylon, however intoxicated with worldly
prosperity, has an indefinable feeling in the
depths of the heart, which cries, “Not enough;
I have not all that I want, and, yet more, I
have that which I want not.” But, on the
contrary, the inhabitant of the Holy City bears
in the depths of his heart a perpetual Fiat
and Amen. He wills to bear all his troubles,


Spiritual Letters.
107
and he does not crave any of the consolations
of which God deprives him. Ask him what
he wishes, and he will reply that he wishes for
precisely what he has. The will of God, at
the present moment, is that daily bread which
is better than all else. He wills all that God
wills in and for Him. This will satisfies his
heart; it is a never-failing manna.
LXXI.
ON PRAYER AND SELF-SURRENDER.
r oD is our true Friend, who always gives
U us the counsel and comfort we need.
Our danger lies in resisting Him; so it is es-
sential that we acquire the habit of hearken-
ing to His voice, of keeping silence within,
and listening so as to lose nothing of what He
says to us. We know well enough how to
keep outward silence, and to hush our spoken
words, but we know little of interior silence.
It consists in hushing our idle, restless, wan-
dering imagination, in quieting the promptings
of our worldly minds, and in suppressing the
crowd of unprofitable thoughts which excite
and disturb the soul.


108
Fénelon.
Selections from
Accustom yourself to have familiar recourse
to God, and to ask His help, whenever He
requires some sacrifice which you have not
courage to make. Your sensitiveness as to
the smallest trifles shows how much you need
that God should tear them from you. Oh,
how blessed it is when one can make great
sacrifices to God by offering up what is as
mere child's play. We need not take to sack-
cloth and hair-shirts, or fly to the desert; we
necd only let God deprive us of some childish
trifles. Without overstepping the limits of
ordinary life, or adding a cross to our daily
life, we can die to self, and offer an inex-
haustible sacrifice to God. If we have faith-
lessly refused something He asked, it needs
but to relax our grasp the moment we are
conscious of the fault. But, to obtain such
faithfulness, we must watch, pray, strengthen
our heart, not our curiosity, vanity, or sloth.
LXXII.
ON DISTRACTIONS.
DEOPLE carry to their prayers an imagi-
nation excited by all manner of idle


Spiritual Letters.
109
frivolities, a mind buoyed up with thoughts
and projects of self-pleasing, and a will di-
vided between duty to God and inclination to
all that fosters self-love. Can you wonder
that their prayer so easily becomes a mere
helpless distraction, all lifeless, an uninterest-
ing form, which they are impatient to have
done with ? That which ought to be their
support in all temptation is itself without
strength or power; that which ought to be
the heart's food is itself unfed, — the source
of life is dried up. What remedy can we find
for this? I know but two; one to lessen the
day's distractions, the other to increase recol-
lection in those hours which are free.
I do not want you to cut off anything from
your public duties ; indeed, I have sometimes
fancied that you did not give time enough to
visits of courtesy, and the claims of society
arising out of your position. But you ought
to cut to the quick as regards your free hours.
Less of mere indulged curiosity, fewer lengthy
documents, fewer details, less of the anatomy
of business. You should often cut things
short with two decided words, and learn the
great art of letting others help you. You dis-
sipate your mind more in your own study with


IIO
Fénelon.
Selections from
disagreeable matters than you would do by
performing social duties which interfere with
your notions of freedom. Take away men's
excitability and their roused self-love, and no
occupations in the way of duty would distract
them; all would be quietly done as in God's
presence, and their exterior duties would be-
come a kind of prayer.
LXXIII.
HOW TO BEAR CROSSES.
V OU have to carry many a cross, but you
1 need them, since God lays them on
you. He knows how to select them; it is
the fact of their being His selection which
disturbs and roots out self-will. Crosses which
you picked out, and thought well to bear, so
far from being crosses and means of death
unto self, would be all that was wanted to
sustain and strengthen self-will. You com-
plain of your interior darkness and poverty :
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” “Blessed
are they who, not having seen, yet have be-
lieved.” Is it not far enough for us to see if
we can perceive our own frailty, and not at-


Spiritual Letters.
III
tempt to palliate it? If we see our own
darkness, it will do.
Follow the leadings of lowliness, simplicity,
and self-denial, and you will acquire peace,
recollection, gentleness, detachment, forbear-
ance towards others, and contentment under
all your troubles.
LXXIV.
GOD PROPORTIONS OUR SUFFERINGS TO OUR
STRENGTH.
I AM truly concerned for the sufferings of
1 your dear invalid, and the trials of those
whom God has placed near her to help her to
bear her cross. Bid her never distrust God,
and He will proportion her sufferings to the
patience which He will give her. He only,
who has made all hearts, and renewed them
by His grace, knows what that due proportion
is. The man on whom He is exercising it
does not perceive it, and, knowing neither the
extent of his future trial, nor that of God's
sustaining grace, he is tempted to discourage-
ment and despair.
“God is faithful, who will not suffer you to
be tempted above that ye are able." He


112
Fénelon.
Selections from
vouchsafes to call Himself faithful. How
blessed is that faithfulness. Remind your
invalid of this, and bid her leave all to God,
without looking beyond to-day. Oftentimes,
that which seemed most terrible and unbear-
able beforehand is lightened when it comes.
All that is excessive comes, not of God, who
never lays too much on us, but from our own
imagination, which seeks to penetrate the fu-
ture, and our self-love, which exaggerates all
we suffer. This will help N., who sometimes
is distressed, lest she should give way to dis-
tress at some future time. All our moments
are alike in God's hand, the hour of death as
that of life.
LXXV.
INDULGENCE FOR THE FAULTS OF OTHERS.
IS really a good man, although he has
IV. his faults. Who has not? Yet, over-
laden as we are with our own, which we leave
uncorrected, we are so sensitive and impatient
towards those of our neighbor ! Nothing,
seemingly can make us indulgent, since our
own incorrigible frailty does not abate the
severity of our criticism upon others. We


114
Fénelon.
Selections from
LXXVII.
ANXIETY CONCERNING THE FUTURE.
I WISH you all the benefit you are seeking
1 in retreat; above all, that you may find
rest in a simple line of conduct, without look-
ing forward anxiously to the future. That
future is in God's hands, not yours; God will
rule it according to your need. But if you
seek to forecast it in your own wisdom, you
will gain nothing but anxiety and anticipation
of inevitable trouble. Try only to make use
of each day; each day brings its own good
and evil, and sometimes what seems evil be-
comes good if we leave it to God, and do not
forestall Him in our impatience.
Be sure that God will grant you whatever
time you need to attain to Him. Perhaps He
may not give you as much as you would like
for your own plans, or to please yourself un-
der the pretext of seeking perfection, but you
will find that neither time nor opportunity for
renunciation of self and self-pleasing will be
lacking. All other time is lost, however well
spent it may seem. Be assured that you will
find all such matters adapted to your real
needs.


118
Fénelon.
Selections from
not a miraculous inspiration, which exposes
us to illusion and fanaticism. It is only a
profound peace of the soul that yields itself
up to the Spirit of God, believing His revealed
word, and practising His commands as de-
clared in the Gospel.
LXXIX.
To the Duke of Burgundy.
THAT THE LOVE OF GOD SHOULD BE OUR ONLY
RULE AND END:
THE true way to love our neighbors is to
I love them in God and for God. It is
ourselves that we love in our friends, and this
is an imperfect love. It is more like self-love
than real friendship. How, then, must we
love our friends? We must love them in the
order of God; we must love God in them.
That is to say, we must love the good things
with which God has endowed them, and we
must, for His sake, submit to the privation of
those things which He has denied them.
When we love them with reference to self,
our self-love makes us impatient, sensitive,
jealous, demanding much, and deserving lit-


Spiritual Letters.
119
tle ; ever distrusting ourselves and our friends.
It becomes wearied and disgusted; it very
soon sees the termination of what it believed
was inexhaustible ; it meets everywhere with
disappointment; it would like to have always
that which is perfect, and finds it nowhere ;
it becomes dissatisfied, changes, and has no
repose.
But the love of God, loving friends apart
from self, knows how to love them patiently
with all their faults, and does not insist upon
finding in our friends what God has not placed
there. It thinks of God and of what He has
given ; it thinks that all is good, provided it
is from Him; and it can support that which
God suffers to be, and to which it is His will
that we should submit, by conforming our-
selves to His designs.
The love of God never looks for perfection
in created beings. It knows that it dwells
with Him alone ; and, as it never expects
perfection, it is never disappointed. It loves
God and His gifts in every living thing, ac-
cording to their respective value. It loves
less what is less excellent, and more what is
nearer to perfection. It sees in an earthly
parent the love of the Heavenly Father. In


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Fénelon.
Selections from
a relative, in a friend, it acknowledges those
tender ties which God has ordained. The
more strictly these bonds are in the order of
His Providence, the more the love of God
sanctions them, and renders them strong and
intimate. Can we love God without loving
those beings whom He has commanded us to
love? It is He that inspires this love ; it is
His will that we should love them ; shall we
not obey Him?
This love can endure all things, suffer all
things, hope all things for our neighbor. It
can conquer all difficulties ; it flows from the
heart, and sheds a charm upon the manners.
It is melted at the sorrows of others, and
thinks nothing of its own; it gives consola-
tion where it is needed; it is gentle ; it adapts
itself to others; it weeps with those who
weep, it rejoices with those who rejoice; it
is all things to all men, not in a forced ap-
pearance and in cold demonstrations, but
from a full and overflowing heart, in which
the love of God is a living spring of the ten-
derest, the deepest, and the truest feeling.
Nothing is so sterile, so cold, so constrained,
as a heart that loves only itself in all things;
while nothing can exceed the frankness, the


122
Fénelon.
Selections from
diligent in resisting the deceits and wiles of
self-love as fast as it perceives them. For re-
member, we lose time not only by doing noth-
ing, or doing amiss, but also by doing things
in themselves right, which yet are not what
God would have us do.
One general rule for the right use of time
is to accustom yourself to live in continual
dependence upon God's Holy Spirit, receiv-
ing whatever He vouchsafes to give, from one
moment to another, referring all doubts to
Him, and, where an immediate course of ac-
tion has to be taken, seeking strength in Him,
- lifting up your heart to Him whenever you
become aware that outward things are leading
you away, or tending to forgetfulness or sepa-
ration from Him.
Blessed is that soul which by sincere self-
renunciation abides always in its Creator's
hands, ready to do whatever He wills, not
weary of saying to Him a hundred times a
day, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?
Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my
God. Send forth Thy light, Lord, to guide
me; teach me by a holy use of the present
time, which Thou givest me, to make amends
for the past, and never blindly to reckon on
an uncertain future."


Christian Counsels.
123
With respect to business and external du-
ties, we only need for the right use of time to
give a simple attention to the ordering of
God's Providence. As it is He who prepares
them for us, and presents them to us, we have
only to follow Him obediently, submitting en-
tirely to Him our own tempers, fancies, incli-
nations, our self-will, our fastidiousness or rest-
less anxiety, our hurry, in short, all our own
natural impulses to do what we like, in our
own way. Take care not to let yourself be
overwhelmed by outer things, nor utterly im-
mersed in a multitude of external interests,
whatever they may be.
We should endeavor to begin all our under
takings with reference to the glory of God,
continue them quietly, and finish them with.
out excitement or impatience.
Spare time is often the pleasantest and the
most useful as concerns one's self; it can
hardly find a better use than that of renewing
our strength (and this bodily as well as men-
tal) through secret communion with God.
Prayer is so necessary, it is the source of so
much blessing, that the soul which has found
this treasure will hardly fail to return to it as
often as it is free to do so.


124
Fénelon.
Selections from
LXXXI.
ON THE AMUSEMENTS THAT BELONG TO OUR
CONDITION.
CONDIT
I do not think that you need to be troubled
1 about those entertainments which you
are inevitably called upon to share. Where
amusements are innocent in themselves, and
come in the way of things according to the
state of life to which God has called a per-
son, I think it is enough if she shares in them
moderately, and as in God's sight. A stiff,
constrained tone, — harsh, unbending, dis-
obliging manners, — only tend to give worldly
people a mistaken impression of religion,
whereas they are quite sufficiently inclined
already to misjudge it, and to think that
God can only be served in a gloomy, dull
life.
Let us go on with a simple heart in all
peace and joy; such are the fruits of the
Holy Spirit. He who does all, even the com-
monest things, as in God's presence, is still
working for God, although he may appear to
do nothing of much importance; always tak-
ing for granted that such trifling duties come


Christian Counsels.
125
to him in the order of God's Providence, and
that he conforms to that order in his life.
Most people, when setting about their refor-
mation or conversion, are much more anxious
to spend their lives in doing difficult or un-
usual things, than to purify their intentions
and to renounce self-will in the ordinary du-
ties of their position ; but this is a great mis-
take. Far better make less outward alteration
as to actions, and more inward change in the
heart which prompts them. Those who are
leading a decent, well-ordered life need much
more interior than exterior change when they
seek to become more earnest Christians. God
does not care for lip service, or bodily ges-
tures, or outward ceremonies ; what He re-
quires is a will plastic in His hands, asking
nothing and refusing nothing, which wills un-
reservedly all that He wills, never under any
possible excuse willing aught that He does
not will.
Try always to have this simple will, — this
will so imbued with God's will, wherever His
Providence may lead you. Seek Him during
the hours which seem so empty, and they will
become full to you through His grace. Even
the most unprofitable amusements will become


126
Fénelon.
Selections from
a kind of good works, if you enter into them
simply out of genuine courtesy, and in con-
formity with the ordering of God's Provi-
dence. How free is the heart when God
opens this way of simplicity. You will find
yourself going on like a little child whose
mother leads it by the hand, while it never
questions whither they are going ; you will be
content to be bound or free, to talk or be
silent.
Nothing is so simple, gentle, lovable, dis-
creet, and steadfast in every duty as real re-
ligion founded on dutiful acceptance of the
will of God, apart from personal tastes and
likings, impetuosity and impulse. One so
actuated leads very much the same life as all
around, without affectation or strictness, so-
ciable and easy in manner, but always regu-
lated by duty, unremitting in giving up what-
ever is at discord with God's appointed way,
looking steadfastly to God, and offering up all
the impulsive tendencies of natural disposition
to Him.
When you find that weariness depresses or
amusement distracts you, you will calmly turn
with an untroubled spirit to your heavenly
Father, who is always holding out His arms to


Christian Counsels. 131
hands of God, the joy of seeing the Light
always increasing in their hearts, and, finally,
deliverance from the tyrannical fears and de-
sires of the world.
They sacrifice themselves, but it is to Him
whom they love best; they suffer, but they are
willing to suffer, and they prefer suffering to all
their false joys; their body may endure severe
pain, their imagination be troubled, their mind
become languid and exhausted, but their will
is firm and tranquil in its most secret depths,
and it unceasingly says Amen to all the blows
with which God smites in order to discipline.
What God requires of us is a will no longer
divided between Him and any creature ; a
will pliant in His hands, which desires nothing,
and rejects nothing, which wishes without re-
serve all that He wills, and never, under any
pretext, wishes anything which He does not
will. When one is in this state, everything is
salutary; even amusements, taken in this
spirit, are turned into good works.
Is it not a grievous mistake to be afraid to
give yourself to God, and to commit yourself
to so blessed a state of things? Blessed are
they who throw themselves headlong and
blindfold into the arms of “the Father of


Christian Counsels. 133
we did before ; for God does not alter the
conditions He has assigned to men, nor the
duties which He himself has attached to them,
but we shall do, to serve God, what we have
been doing to serve and please the world, and
to satisfy ourselves. There will be only this
difference, that instead of being devoured by
our pride, our tyrannical passions, and the
malignant censure of the world, we shall act,
on the contrary, with freedom, courage, hope
in God; we shall be full of trust, and looking
forward to eternal blessings will sustain us in
the midst of trials, when earthly happiness
seems to slip from under us : our love of God,
which will make us realize His love for us, will
give us wings to fly in His way, and to waft us
above all our cares and troubles.
LXXXV.
ON THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
THE true mainspring of our perfection is
1 contained in these words of God to
Abraham, “Walk in my presence, and thou
shalt be perfect.”* The presence of God
* In the English Bible, “ Walk before me, and be
thou perfect.” — GEN. xvii. 1.


134
Fénelon.
Selections from
calms the spirit, gives tranquil slumbers, and
brings repose and quiet of mind even in the
midst of all our daily labors; but then we
must give ourselves up unreservedly to Him.
It does not require a great deal of time to
love God, to renew ourselves in His presence,
to lift up the heart to Him, or to adore Him
in the depths of the heart, to offer Him what
we do and what we suffer ; this is the true
“ Kingdom of God within us,” which nothing
can disturb.
When outward distractions and the rovings
of the imagination hinder the soul from a
sweet and peaceful state of recollection, let us
at least calm ourselves by the integrity of our
will; then the desire for recollectedness is in
itself a kind of recollection which will avail.
We must turn our minds inward to God, and
do whatsoever He would have us, with a pure
and upright intention.
We must endeavor, from time to time, to
awaken in ourselves the desire of being de-
voted to God to the fullest extent of all the
powers of our soul ; that is to say, to contem-
plate Him with our mind, and with our will to
love Him. Let us also desire that our senses
may be consecrated to Him in all their opera-
tions.


Christian Counsels.
135
Let us take care not to be occupied too
long, either outwardly or inwardly, with things
which cause such distractions to the heart and
mind and draw them so much out of them-
selves, that they find it difficult to return within
to find God.
Whenever we perceive in ourselves an eager
desire for anything, whatever it may be, and
find that our inclination is hurrying us with
too much haste to do what is to be done,
if it is only to say a word, to see an object,
or to take a step, let us stop short, and re-
press the eagerness of our thoughts and the
excitement with which we are acting, for God
has said that His Spirit dwells not in dis-
order.
Let us take care that we do not concern
ourselves too much in all that is said and
done around us, and that we do not become
too deeply engrossed in it, for it is a great
source of disturbance. As soon as we have
seen what God requires of us in each thing
that presents itself, let us confine ourselves to
that, and withdraw ourselves from everything
else. By that means we shall always keep the
depths of the soul free and tranquil, and we
shall rid ourselves of many useless things


136
Fénelon.
Selections from
which encumber the heart, and hinder it from
turning easily to God.
An excellent means of keeping ourselves in
an inward quiet and freedom of spirit, is to
put an end, at the close of every action, to
all further thought about it, by dismissing all
the reflections of self-love, whether of self-
complacency or regret.
Happy is he in whose mind nothing remains
but what is necessary, and who thinks of each
thing only when it is time to think of it ; so
that it is rather God who awakens the impres-
sion of it by the sight of His will, which is to
be performed, than the mind itself laboriously
foreseeing and seeking it.
Finally, let us acquire the habit of recalling
ourselves to ourselves through the day, and
during the course of our employments, by
looking simply to God. By that means, let
us calm all the commotions of the heart, as
soon as we see it agitated. Let us sever our-
selves from every pleasure that does not come
from God. Let us suppress useless thoughts
and reveries, and speak no idle words. Let
us seek God within us, and we shall infallibly
find Him, and with Him joy and peace.
In our outward occupations let us be more


Christian Counsels.
139
wills, and will nothing that He does not will ;
we attach our feeble will to that all-powerful
will which performs everything. Thus nothing
can ever come to pass against our will, for
nothing can happen save that which God
wills, and we find in His good pleasure an
inexhaustible source of peace and consola-
tion. The interior life is the beginning of
the blessed peace of the saints, who eternally
say, Amen, amen !
We adore, we praise, we bless God for
everything ; we see Him incessantly in all
things, and in all things His paternal hand is
the only object with which we are occupied.
There are no longer any evils for us, since all
things, even our most terrible sufferings, “work
together for good," as St. Paul says, “ to those
that love God.” Can the troubles which God
sends to purify us, and make us worthy of
Himself, be called evils ? What does us so
great good cannot be an evil.
Let us cast all our cares, then, into the
bosom of so good a Father; let us suffer
Him to do as He sees fit. Let us be content
to follow His will in all things, and to merge
our will in His, that we may renounce our-
selves utterly.


140
Fénelon.
Selections from
Let God do what He will with us. Never
resist Him voluntarily, even for a moment.
As soon as we perceive the rebellion of the
senses and inclinations, let us turn confidingly
to Him, take His side against our own timid,
rebellious nature, and give it up to the Spirit
of God, who will gradually bring death upon
it. Let us watch, as in His sight, against the
slightest faults, so as not to grieve the Holy
Spirit, who is so solicitous over our inner life.
Let us profit by the faults which we have
committed, through the humble conscious-
ness of our weakness, without discouragement
or weariness.
Can we better glorify God than by renoun-
cing ourselves and our own will, and letting
Him do according to His good pleasure? It
is then that He is truly our God, and that
His Kingdom comes within us; when, in-
dependent of all outward help apd inward
consolation, we no longer look to anything
within or without, save the hand of God, over-
ruling all things, the object of our unceasing
worship.
To wish to serve Him in one place rather
than another, by such and such a way, and
not by the opposite one, is to wish to serve


Christian Counsels.
141
Him in our own way, and not in His. But
to be equally ready for all things, to accept
everything and reject nothing, to leave one's
self like a toy in the hands of Providence,
putting no limits to our submission, as, indeed,
the dominion of God cannot endure any ; this
is serving Him by renouncing self; this is
treating Him truly as God, and ourselves as
creatures made only for Him.
Open, then, your heart ; open it without
measure, that God and His love may enter
without measure, like a torrent. Fear nothing
in the path which you are treading. God will
lead you as if by the hand, if only you do not
doubt, and are filled rather with love for Him
than with fear for yourself.
LXXXVII.
ON INWARD PEACE.
THE peace of the soul consists in absolute
1 resignation to the will of God. What
you require is true simplicity, a certain calm-
ness of spirit which comes from entire sur-
render to all that God wills, patience and
toleration for your neighbor's faults, which a


142
Fénelon.
Selections from
sense of God's presence inspires, a certain
candor and childlike docility in acknowledg-
ing your faults, and accepting reproof and
counsel ; these are the solid graces which are
needful for your sanctification.
The trouble you feel about so many things
comes from your not accepting everything
which may happen to you, with sufficient
resignation to God. Put all things, then, in
His hands, and offer them beforehand to Him
in your heart, as a sacrifice. From the mo-
ment when you cease to want things to be
according to your own judgment, and accept
unconditionally whatever He sends, you will
be free from all your uneasy retrospects and
anxieties about your own concerns ; you will
have nothing to conceal or to contrive.
Until then, you will be troubled, changeable
in your views and tastes, easily displeased with
others, and out of harmony with yourself, full
of reserve and distrust; your talents, until
they become truly humble and simple, will
only torment you ; your piety, however sin-
cere, will serve less to sustain and comfort
you than to fill you with inward self-reproach.
If, on the contrary, you give your heart wholly
to God, you will be full of peace and joy in
the Holy Spirit.


Christian Counsels.
143
-
LXXXVIII.
ON PRAYER.
TRUE prayer is nothing else than the
1 love of God. Its excellence does not
consist in the multitude of our words, for God
knows our inmost feelings without the need
of words. The true prayer is that of the
heart, and the heart prays only through its
desires. He who desires not from the depths
of his heart, makes a deceitful prayer. If he
should pass whole days in reciting prayers, or
in meditating, or in exciting himself to pious
feelings, he does not truly pray, if he does
not desire what he asks.
We pray without ceasing when we unceas-
ingly retain true love and true desire in our
hearts. Love, hidden in the depths of the
soul, prays constantly, even when the mind
is drawn another way. This love entreats
God to give us what we need, and that He
would have less regard to our frailty than
to the sincerity of our intentions. This love
removes even our slight faults, and purifies us
like a consuming fire ; it asks in us, and for
us, that which is according to the will of
God.


144
Fénelon.
Selections from
Then we wish all and we wish nothing.
What God wills to give us is exactly what we
should have chosen ; for we wish all that He
wills, and only what He wills. Even when
we are busy about outward things, and our
thoughts are unavoidably occupied with the
duties which Providence has laid upon us, we
still bear within us a constantly burning fire,
which not only cannot be extinguished, but
which, on the contrary, nourishes a secret
prayer, which is like a lamp continually burn-
ing before the throne of God. “I sleep, but
my heart waketh.” “Blessed are those whom
the Lord shall find watching."
The two principal means of preserving the
spirit of prayer which unites us with God are
to nourish it, and to avoid whatever tends to
make us lose it. To nourish it, we need regu-
lar reading, appointed seasons of secret prayer,
retirement when required, and frequent recol-
lection of spirit during the day. We should
greatly fear, and be exceedingly cautious to
avoid all things that have a tendency to make
us lose this state of prayer. Thus we should
shun associates who dissipate the mind too
much, pleasures which excite the passions,
and everything calculated to awaken the love


Christian Counsels.
145
of the world, and those old inclinations which
have been so injurious to us.
The first effect of a sincere love is an
earnest desire to know all that we can do to
gratify our Beloved ; to do otherwise is to
love ourselves under the pretext of loving
God; it is to wish to make God serve our
pleasure, and not to sacrifice ourselves to His
glory. God forbid that His children should
so love Him! Cost what it may, we must
know and do without reservation all that He
requires of us.
We must fulfil our duties before we seek
enjoyment in fervor. The man who has pub-
lic duties, and who spends the time appro-
priate for them in meditating in retirement,
would miss of God while he imagined he was
seeking to be united to Him. True union
with God is to do His will without ceasing,
in spite of all our natural disinclination, in
all the wearisome and painful duties of our
condition.
We must reserve the necessary time for
seeing God alone in prayer. Those who are
in important positions have so many indis-
pensable duties to fulfil, that, without the
greatest care in the management of their
10


146
Fénelon.
Selections from
time, none will be left for communion with
God. If they have even a slight inclination
for trifling, the hours that belong to God and
their neighbor disappear altogether.
We must be firm in observing our rules.
This strictness appears excessive, but without
it everything falls into confusion. To be
faithful in prayer, we must be faithful in regu-
lating all the employments of the day, with a
firmness which nothing ever can disturb.
LXXXIX.
ON SELF-DENIAL.
C OD calls us to the exercise of self-denial
u every hour and moment, but nothing
is more false than the maxim that we should
always choose what is most painful to us.
According to this rule, we should soon ruin
health, reputation, business, our intercourse
with relatives and friends, and the good works
which Providence lays upon us.
A simple self-denial, which consists in con-
stant fidelity under Providential crosses, is
often far above severe austerities which render
the life more marked, and tempt to a vain


Christian Counsels.
147
self-complacency. Whoever refuses nothing
which comes in the order of God, and seeks
nothing out of that order, never ends his day
without partaking of the cross of Jesus Christ.
There is a necessary Providence for crosses
as for the necessaries of life ; it is our daily
bread; God never suffers it to fail us ; it is
sometimes even a very useful trial to fervent
souls to give up their own methods of self-
denial, and to allow themselves to be disci-
plined from moment to moment by those
which God ordains.
When we are not faithful to the opportuni-
ties for self-denial appointed by Providence,
there is reason to fear some illusion in those
which are sought in the fervor of devotion ;
this warmth is often delusive ; and it seems
to me that a soul in this case would do well
to examine its faithfulness under the daily
crosses allotted by Providence.
XC.
ON TEMPTATIONS.
I KNOW of but two resources against temp-
tations. One is, to be faithful to the


148
Fénelon.
Selections from
inner Light, in avoiding promptly and entirely
all that we are at liberty to avoid, which may
excite and strengthen the temptation. I say,
all that we are at liberty to avoid, because it
does not always depend upon ourselves
whether we shall fly from occasions of evil.
Those which belong to the situation in life in
which Providence has placed us are not con-
sidered to be within our power.
The second rule is to turn to God when
tempted, without being disturbed, or anxious
to know if we have yielded a half consent,
and without interrupting immediate recourse
to God. The shortest and surest way is to
act like a little child at the breast; when it
sees something which causes alarm, it shrinks
back and buries its face in its mother's bosom,
that it may no longer behold it.
The sovereign remedy is the habit of dwell-
ing continually in the presence of God; He
sustains, consoles, and calms us.
In a certain sense, there is little to do in
doing the will of God. It is true that there is
an enormous amount to do, because we must
never hold back anything, or resist for a mo-
ment this Divine love which searches out self-
will in the most secret recesses of the soul.


Christian Counsels.
149
But, on the other hand, it is not the multitude
of hard duties, it is not constraint or conten-
tion, which advances us in our Christian
course. On the contrary, it is to yield our
wills without restriction and without choice;
to go on cheerfully from day to day as Provi-
dence leads us ; to seek nothing, to refuse
nothing; to find everything in the present
moment; and to suffer God, who does every-
thing, to do His pleasure in and by us, with-
out the slightest resistance.
XCI.
ON DEPRESSION.
VITH regard to a certain depression,
V which weighs down and dispirits the
heart, there are two rules which seem to me
iinportant. The first is, to relieve this sadness
by the means furnished us by Providence; for
example, not to overload ourselves with diffi-
cult affairs, that we may not sink under an
excessive burden ; to husband the strength,
not only of the body, but of the mind also,
by not taking upon ourselves matters in which
we should count too much upon our own


150
Fénclon.
Selections from
courage ; to reserve for ourselves hours for
prayer, for reading, for the cheering influences
of good conversation ; and even have recourse
to diversions, in order to relax at the same
time the mind with the body, according to
our need.
The second rule is to bear in peace all the
involuntary impressions of sadness which we
suffer, notwithstanding the helps and precau-
tions I have just mentioned.
XCII.
ON WANDERING THOUGHTS AND DEPRESSION.
TWO things trouble you ; one is, to avoid
I wandering thoughts; the other, to sus-
tain yourself against depression. As to the
former, you will not cure them by set reflec-
tions; content yourself with yielding your
will unreservedly to God, and never consider
any painful condition without accepting it, in
your mind, by offering yourself to the Divine
guidance. Never, indeed, go forward to meet
these crucifying thoughts; but, when God
permits them to come to you without your
seeking, never let them pass without fruit.


Christian Counsels.
151
Accept, in spite of the repugnance and
shrinking of nature, all that God presents to
your mind as a trial by which He would exer-
cise your faith. Never distress yourself to
know whether you would have the strength to
carry out what you desire to do beforehand;
the moment of trial will have its grace, but
the grace of the moment in which you look
upon these crosses is to feel willing to receive
them cheerfully, whenever it shall be the will
of God to bestow them.
Whenever you perceive your thoughts wan-
dering, recall them without a struggle, and
you will tranquilly find yourself by His side
again without disturbance of spirit. Your
fidelity in returning to His presence every
time when you perceive your condition will
procure for you the blessing of His more con-
stant and familiar indwelling.
When we are entirely given up to God, all
that we do is well done, even without doing
many things; we trustingly offer ourselves up,
as regards the future ; we desire without re-
serve all that God wills, and we close our eyes
that we may not anticipate future events ;
meanwhile we apply ourselves to accomplish
His will in the present; sufficient for each


Christian Counsels. 153
from whom we had turned away. You will
find by experience how much more your
progress will be aided by this simple and
peaceful turning towards Him, than by all
your vexation at the faults which have do-
minion over you.
As for the natural depression which arises
from a melancholy temperament, it springs
from the bodily condition, and diet and other
remedies will diminish it. It is true that it
continually returns, but it is not voluntary.
When God gives it, we endure it in peace,
like a fever, and other bodily sufferings. The
imagination is sunk in profound gloom, and is
hung with mourning ; but the will, which lives
by faith alone, is ready to bear all these im-
pressions; we are at peace, because we are
in accord with ourselves, and submissive to
God. The question is not what we feel, but
what we will. We wish all that we have, and
wish nothing which is denied us.
If anything is capable of enlarging and
freeing the heart, it is this entire surrender.
It sheds abroad in the soul, “peace as a river,
and righteousness as the waves of the sea.”
If anything can render the mind serene, dis-
sipate its scruples and its gloomy fears, relieve


156 Selections from Fénelon.
myself. I will not go to seek anything ; I
will perform in peace the other things to which
Thou shalt limit me ; for, according to that
disposition of self-surrender which Thou dost
grant me, I neither desire nor refuse anything.
I am ready for everything, and I consent to
be useless to all. Sought or rejected, known
or unknown, applauded or opposed, what is
it to me? It is Thee, and not myself, Thee,
and not Thy gifts, distinct from Thee and
Thy love, which I seek. All conditions ap-
pointed by Thee are the same to me. Amen.
XCIII.
UPON DAILY FAULTS.
W HEN we perceive an inclination to do
W wrong before we have committed a
fault, we must abstain from it; but, after we
have committed it, we must courageously en-
dure the humiliation which follows. When we
perceive the fault before we commit it, we
must beware of resisting the Spirit of God
which is warning us of danger, and which may,
if we neglect it, be silenced within us, and
which will in time leave us, if we do not yield


Christian Counsels.
159
dence in God. God never makes us feel our
weaknesses, but that we may be led to seek
strength from Him. What is involuntary
should not trouble us; but the great thing is,
never to act against the light within us, and to
desire to follow where God would lead us.
XCIV.
ON FIDELITY IN SMALL MATTERS.
C REAT virtues are rare ; they are seldom
needed ; and, when the occasion comes,
we are prepared for it by everything which has
preceded, excited by the greatness of the sacri-
fice, and sustained either by the brilliancy of
the action in the eyes of others, or by self-
complacency in our ability to do such won-
derful things. Small occasions, however, are
unforeseen; they recur every moment, and
place us incessantly in conflict with our pride,
our sloth, our self-esteem, our haughtiness,
and our readiness to take offence; they are
calculated thoroughly to subdue our wills, and
leave us no retreat. It would please us much
better to make certain great sacrifices to God,
however violent and painful they might be, on


160
Fénelon.
Selections from
condition of obtaining liberty to follow our
own desires and retain our old habits in all
the little details of life. It is, however, only
by fidelity in little things that the grace of
true love to God can be sustained, and dis-
tinguished from a passing fervor of spirit.
Sometimes we cling more tenaciously to a
trifle than to a great interest. It would give
us more pain to relinquish an amusement than
to bestow a great sum in charity. We are
more easily led away by little things, because
we believe them more innocent, and imagine
that we are less attached to them ; neverthe-
less, when God deprives us of them, we soon
discover, from the pain of privation, how ex-
cessive and inexcusable was our attachment
to them. Besides, if we are in the habit of
neglecting little things, we shall be constantly
offending our family, our domestics, and the
public. No one can well believe that our
piety is sincere, when our behavior is lax
and irregular in its little details. What proba-
bility is there that we should not hesitate to
make the greatest sacrifices, when we shrink
from the smallest ?
But the greatest danger of all consists in
this, that, by neglecting small matters, the


162
Fénelon.
Selections from
have an excuse for retaining it; it is a trifle
which you hold back from God, and which
will be your ruin.
There is no real elevation of mind in a.
contempt of little things; it is, on the con-
trary, from too narrow views that we consider
those things of little importance, which have
in fact such extensive consequences. The
more trouble it occasions us to be on our
guard against small matters, the more need
have we to fear negligence, to distrust our
strength, and to interpose invincible barriers
between ourselves and the least remissness.
Finally, judge by your own feelings. What
would you think of a friend who owed every-
thing to you, and who was willing from a sense
of duty to serve you on those rare occasions
which are called great, but who should mani-
fest neither affection nor the least regard for
your wishes in the common intercourse of
life?
Do not be afraid of this continual attention
to small things; it needs courage at first, but
it is a penance which you deserve, which you
need, and which will bring you peace and
security ; without it, all is trouble and relapse.
God will gradually render this state pleasant


Christian Counsels.
163
and easy to you, for true love is attentive
without constraint, and without disturbance
of spirit.
XCV.
ON DETACHMENT FROM SELF.
W E seek to discover all our weaknesses,
VV and God tenderly spares us in this
our seeking. He refuses us a light too ad-
vanced for our condition ; He does not per-
mit us to see in our hearts what it is not yet
time to eradicate from them. It is an admi-
rable forbearance of the goodness of God
never to solicit us, by His inner voice, to
sacrifice to Him anything that we have hith-
erto loved and possessed, without giving us
the necessary light for the purpose, and never
to give us the light leading to sacrifice, without
affording the necessary strength. Souls most
upright and watchful against their defects, are
still in a state of obscurity concerning certain
acts of renunciation, which God reserves for
a more advanced state of faith and self-denial.
We should not wish to anticipate the time for
these, and it is sufficient to abide in peace,
provided we are faithful in all we know. If


164
Fénelon.
Selections from
there remains anything to know, God will
reveal it to us.
Meanwhile, God hides from us, with a veil
of mercy, what we should not yet be able to
bear. We have a certain impatient zeal for
our own perfection, we would choose at once
to see and to sacrifice all. But humbly wait-
ing under the hand of God, and gently bear-
ing with ourselves, without self-flattery, in this
state of darkness and dependence, are infi-
nitely more useful to us in dying to self, than
all these uneasy efforts to advance our perfec-
tion. Let us then content ourselves with fol-
lowing, without looking farther, all the light
that is given to us from one moment to another.
This is our daily bread : God gives it only for
each day.
It is this dependence, like that of a child
upon its father, to which God wishes to mould
us, even in spiritual matters. He dispenses
the inner light to us, as a wise mother would
assign tasks to her daughter; she would not
give her a new one, until the first should be
finished. Have you finished all that God has
set before you? Instantly He will present to
you a new work; for He never leaves the soul
idle, and unprogressive in the work of detach-


Christian Counsels.
165
ment. If, on the contrary, you have not yet
finished the first work, He hides from you
what is to follow.
Let us then allow God to work within us,
and content ourselves with being faithful to
the light of the present moment. It brings
with it all that is necessary to prepare us for
the light of the moment which follows; and this
succession of graces which are linked together
like the rings of a chain, prepares us insen-
sibly for the distant sacrifices of which we
have not yet even caught sight.
XCVI.
ON THE PRACTICE OF SELF-RENUNCIATION.
W HENEVER we detect in ourselves
V a feeling of haughtiness, of subser-
viency to the opinion of others, of over-con-
fidence in ourselves, of desire to follow our
own inclination instead of our duty, or to seek
our own selfish enjoyment, of impatience with
the frailties of others, or with the trials and
annoyances of our own condition, we must
let all these thoughts drop as a stone drops to
the bottom of the water, we must seek the


Christian Counsels.
167
whom I ought to conciliate, so severe to-
wards the faults of others, so lenient and so
backward in mending my own? Should I be
so ready to murmur at the trials by which God
would prove my virtue ?
Do we enjoy the contemplation of God ?
Do we feel a sincere joy when we pray to
Him, and when we meditate upon His pres-
ence? “Prayer," says St. Augustine, “ is the
measure of love.” He who loves much, prays
much. He whose heart is closely united to
God, has no sweeter consolation than in com-
munion with Him. He finds a positive hap-
piness in being able to love Him, to speak to
Him, to meditate upon His attributes, to
adore His majesty, to admire His power,
to dwell on His goodness, and to yield him-
self up to his Providence. In this intercourse
he pours out, as into the bosom of a tender
Father, all the sorrows of his overflowing
heart ; this is his resource under every afflic-
tion; he finds strength and consolation in
spreading out all his weaknesses and all his
desires before Him; and as our whole lives
are full of imperfections, as we are never free
from sin, we should always, in the exercise of
prayer, ask pardon of God for our ingratitude,
and thank Him for His mercy.


168.
Fénelon.
Selections from
Let us pray then, but let us pray with all
our duties before us. Do not let us make elo-
quent and abstract prayers which have no
connection with the practice of virtue, but let
us pray to become more humble, more docile,
more patient, more charitable, more modest,
more pure, more disinterested in the perform-
ance of our duties. Without this, our prayer
will be only an illusion to ourselves, and a scan-
dal to our neighbor ; an illusion to ourselves,
for how often do we see a devotion which only
nourishes pride and misleads the imagination ;
and a scandal to our neighbor, for there can be
none greater than to see a person who prays
unceasingly without correcting his faults, who
comes from his orisons neither less frivolous
nor less discontented, nor less anxious than
he was before.
Are we resolved to give ourselves up with-
out reserve to God? Do we consider His
protecting Providence our best resource, or
have we concerning our own affairs a timid
anxiety which renders us unworthy of His care?
The disposition essential to the soul that
consecrates itself to God, is to desire nothing
but in reference to his will.
The defects of our neighbor interfere with


Christian Counsels.
169
our own ; our vanity is wounded by that of
another; our own haughtiness finds our neigh-
bor's ridiculous and insupportable ; our rest-
lessness is rebuked by the sluggishness and
indolence of this person ; our gloom is dis-
turbed by the gaiety and frivolities of that
person, and our heedlessness by the shrewd-
ness and address of another.
If we were faultless, we should not be so
much annoyed by the defects of those with
whom we associate. If we were to acknowl-
edge honestly that we have not virtue enough
to bear patiently enough with our neighbor's
weaknesses, we should show our own imper-
fection, and this alarms our vanity. We there-
fore make our weakness pass for strength,
elevate it to a virtue and call it zeal ; an ima-
ginary and often a hypocritical zeal. For is it
not surprising to see how tranquil we are about
the errors of others when they do not trouble
us, and how soon this wonderful zeal kindles
against those who excite our jealousy or weary
our patience ?
Everywhere we see men who disfigure relig-
ion by vain attempts to make it accord with
their own caprices. One is fervent in prayer,
but he is insensible to the miseries and weak-


170
Fénelon.
Selections from
nesses of his neighbor. Another talks much
of the love of God, and of self-sacrifice,
whilst he is not willing to suffer the least con-
tradiction. Another deprives himself of al-
lowed pleasures, that he may indulge in those
that are forbidden.
This woman is fervent and scrupulous in
works of supererogation, but faithless in the
most common and positive duties; she fasts
and prays, but she does not restrain her pride
or the violence of her temper.
Far better is that simple obedience which
finds the rule of life in the Gospel, and fol-
lows it, without any of those extravagances
which disturb its calm and celestial features.
Place each virtue in its proper rank. Practise,
according to the measure of your gifts, the
most difficult virtues; but do not practise
them at the expense of others. Be strict,
even austere, if you will ; but be humble.
Be very zealous for the reformation of abuses;
but be gentle, charitable, and compassionate.
Do, for the glory of God, all that your love
for Him prompts, but begin with the perform-
ance of all the duties of the situation in which
you are placed.
We must stifle all rising jealousies, all little


Christian Counsels.
171
contrivances to promote our own glory, vain
desires to please, or to succeed, or to be
praised, the fear of seeing others preferred to
ourselves, the anxiety to have our plans carried
into effect, the natural love of dominion, and de-
sire to influence others. These rules are soon
given, but it is not so easy to observe them.
During the short and precious time that is
allowed us on earth, let us hasten to employ
ourselves. While it remains to us let us not
fail to consecrate it to good works. For when
everything else shall have vanished forever,
the works of the just will follow them, even
beyond this life ; for it is certain, according
to the beautiful language of St. Paul, “We
have been created in Jesus Christ unto good
works, that we should walk in them ;” that is
to say, pass our whole lives in this happy em-
ployment. We shall find occasions to do good
everywhere ; they surround us; it is the will
that is needed. The deepest solitudes, when
we seem to have the least communication with
others, will furnish us with means of doing good
to our fellow-beings, and of glorifying Him who
is their Master and ours.
Finally, we must suffer. Yes, we must suf-
fer, not only in submission to the will of Prov-


Christian Counsels.
173
XCVIII.
ON SIMPLICITY.
CIMPLICITY is an uprightness of soul
which checks all useless dwelling upon
one's self and one's actions. It is different
from sincerity, which is a much lower virtue.
We see many people who are sincere without
being simple; they say nothing but what they
believe to be true, and do not aim at appear-
ing anything but what they are ; but they are
always in fear of passing for something they
are not; they are always thinking about them-
selves, weighing all their words and thoughts,
and dwelling upon what they have done in the
fear of having done too much or too little.
Simplicity consists in a just medium, in
which we are neither too much excited, nor
too sedate ; the soul is not carried away by
external things, so as to be unable to reflect ;
neither does it make those continual refer-
ences to self, which a jealous sense of its own
excellence multiplies to infinity. That free-
dom of the soul which looks straight onward
in its path, losing no time to reason upon its
steps, to study them, or to dwell upon those
vhich it has already taken, is true simplicity.


Christian Counsels.
175
alone can show how it enlarges the heart.
We are like a little child in the arms of its
mother; we wish nothing more, we fear noth-
ing for ourselves; in this purity of heart we
are no longer anxious about what others may
think of us, save so far as charity would shun
scandal ; we do everything as it arises as well
as possible, quietly, cheerfully, heartily, regard-
less of success or failure.
But you will ask, how can I help being oc-
cupied with myself when a crowd of anxious
thoughts disturbs me, tyrannizes over me,
and sets me ill at ease? I only ask that which
is in your own power. Never voluntarily give
way to these disturbing anxieties, that is
enough ; faithfulness in resisting them when-
ever you perceive them, will deliver you from
them by degrees; but do not seek a collision
with them in order to have a combat ; you
would only feed the evil. A continual attempt
to repress thoughts of self and self-interest,
would continually occupy our thoughts with
ourselves, and would turn our minds away from
the sense of God's presence and the duties
which He has laid upon us.
The great thing is to yield ourselves up
sincerely to God, to place all our interests,


176
Fénelon.
Selections from
pleasures, comfort, and reputation in His
hands. He who unreservedly accepts whatever
God may give him in this world — humilia-
tion, trouble, and trial from within or from
without — has begun to fortify himself against
self-love ; he does not fear the disapproval of
men, or feel anxiety to avoid their criticism;
he is no longer sensitive, or if he finds himself
wincing, he deals so severely with his sensitive-
ness that it soon diminishes.
This state of entire resignation and per-
petual acquiescence produces true liberty, and
this liberty brings perfect simplicity. The soul
which knows no self-seeking, no interested
ends, is thoroughly candid ; it goes on straight
forward without hindrance, its path opens
daily more and more to “perfect day," in
proportion as its self-renunciation and its self-
forgetfulness increase ; and its peace, amid
whatever troubles beset it, will be as boundless
as the depths of the sea.
A person full of defects, who does not at-
tempt to hide them, who does not seek to
dazzle, who does not affect either talents or
virtue, who does not appear to think of him-
self more than of others, but to have lost
sight of this self of which we are so jealous,


178.
Fénelon.
Selections from
Such simplicity shows in the outward ap-
pearance, and makes people natural and
unaffected: they act without thinking of
themselves or of their actions by a sort of
uprightness of will, which is inexplicable to
those who have not experienced it. This
true simplicity has sometimes a careless and
irregular appearance, but it has the charm of
candor and truth, and sheds around it an in-
describable artlessness, sweetness, innocence,
cheerfulness, and peace; a loveliness that wins
us when we see it intimately, and with pure
eyes.
REFLECTIONS.
XCIX.
ON TRUE DEVOTION.
THAT piety which sanctifies us and de-
1 votes us entirely to God, consists in
doing all His will precisely at the time, in the
situation, and under the circumstances in
which He has placed us. Perform as many
brilliant works as you may, you will be recom-
pensed only for having done the will of your
sovereign Master.


Beflections.
179
Perfect devotedness and from this has
arisen the term devotion), exacts, not only
that we do the will of God, but that we do it
with love. God would have us serve Him
with delight, it is our hearts that He demands
of us. Such a master is entitled to our love.
This devotion must be manifested in every-
thing; in what contradicts our views, our in-
clinations, or our projects; it should make us
stand ready to yield up our fortunes, our time,
our liberty, our life, and our reputation to the
will of God. These are the dispositions, and
such will be the effects, of true devotion.
ON PATIENCE IN SUFFERING.
“In your patience possess ye your souls." -
LUKE xxi. 19.
THE soul loses command of itself when
1 it is impatient. Whereas, when it sub-
mits without a murmur it possesses itself in
peace, and possesses God. To be impatient,
is to desire what we have not, or not to desire
what we have. An impatient soul is a prey
to passions unrestrained either by reason or


180
Fénelon.
Selections from
faith. What weakness, what delusion! When
we acquiesce in an evil, it is no longer such.
Why make a real calamity of it by resistance ?
Peace does not dwell in outward things, but
within the soul. We may preserve it in the
midst of the bitterest pain, if our will remains
firm and submissive. Peace in this life
springs from acquiescence even in disagree-
able things, not in an exemption from bearing
them.
CI.
ON SUBMISSION AND CONFORMITY TO THE
WILL OF GOD.
“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” –
MATT. vi. 10.
TOTHING is done on earth or in heaven,
I but by the will or by the permission
of God; yet men do not desire this will, be-
cause it does not always accord with their
own wishes.
Let us love His will, and only His, and we
shall make a heaven of earth. We shall
thank God for everything, for evil as well as
good things; for evil becomes good when He
sends it. We shall no longer murmur at the


Bellections.
181
conduct of His Providence; we shall find it
all in wisdom, and we shall adore it. O God !
What do I see in the course of the stars, in
the order of the seasons, in the events of life,
"but Thy will which they accomplish? May it
also be fulfilled in me; may I love it; may it
sweeten everything to me; may I resign my
own will that Thine may reign; for it is for
Thee, O Lord, to will, and for me to obey.
Jesus said, in speaking of his heavenly
Father, “For I always do those things that
please Him :" may we learn how far we can
follow this example. He is our model, he
whose life was devotion to the will of God.
May we be united to Him in this spirit, may
we no longer follow our own inclinations, but.
may we not only pray, and teach, and suffer,
but eat, sleep, and converse, — do all things,
with reference to His will. Then all will be
sanctified within us; then will our lives be a
continual sacrifice, unceasing prayer, and un-
interrupted love.


Reflections.
183
neighbor's defects, do you imagine that you
are perfect? How astonished you would be,
if those whom you cavil at, should make all
the comments that they might upon you.
Does it never come into your mind to fear
lest God should demand of you why you had
not exercised towards your brother a little of
that mercy, which He who is your Master so
abundantly bestows upon you?
CIII.
ON THE ONE THING NECESSARY.
W E think we have many important con-
cerns, but we have really but one. If
that is attended to, all others will be done ;
if that is wanting, all the rest, however suc-
cessful they may seem to be, will go to ruin.
Why then should we divide our hearts and
our occupations? O ray of divine light ! I
will do at each moment, without anxiety, ac-
cording to my strength, the work that His
Providence assigns me. I will leave the rest
without concern ; it is not my affair.
“ Father, I have finished the work which
Thou gavest me to do." Each one of us


Beflections.
185
CIV.
ON OUR DAILY BREAD.
W HAT is this bread, O my God? It is
W not merely the support which Thy
Providence supplies for the necessities of life,
it is also the nourishment of truth, which
Thou givest each day to the soul; it is the
bread of eternal life, giving it vigor, and mak-
ing it grow in faith. Thou dost renew it every
day. Thou givest within and without precisely
what the soul needs for its advancement in a
life of faith and self-renunciation. I have
then only to receive this bread, and to accept,
in the spirit of self-sacrifice, whatever Thou
shalt ordain, of bitterness in my external cir-
cunstances, or within my heart. For what-
ever happens to me each day is my daily
bread, provided I do not refuse to take it
from Thy hand, and to feed upon it.


186
Fénelon.
Selections from
CV.
ON THE PEACE OF THE SOUL.
TRUE peace is found only in the posses-
1 sion of God; and the possession of
God here on earth consists only in submission
to faith, and obedience to law. Thus a pure
and spotless love is maintained in the depths
of the heart. Resign every forbidden joy;
restrain every wish that is not referred to this
will; banish all eager desires, all anxiety ;
desire only the will of God; seek Him alone,
and you will find peace; you shall enjoy it in
spite of the world. What is it that troubles
you? Poverty, neglect, want of success, in-
ward or outward crosses ? Look upon every-
thing as in the hands of God, and as real
blessings that He bestows upon His friends,
of which you receive your portion. Then the
world will change its appearance to you, and
nothing will deprive you of your peace.


Beflections.
187
CVI.
ON THE DEPTHS OF THE MERCY OF GOD.
ET us give ourselves to God without any
L reserve, and let us fear nothing. He
will love us, and we shall love Him. His
love, increasing every day, will take the place
of everything else to us. He will fill our
whole hearts; these hearts which the world
has intoxicated, agitated, troubled, but has
never been able to satisfy ; He will deprive us
only of those things that make us unhappy.
He will cause us to do in general what we
have been doing already, but which we have
done in an unsatisfactory manner; whereas,
hereafter, we shall do them well, because they
will be done for His sake. Even the smallest
actions of a simple and common life will be
turned to consolation and recompense. We
shall meet the approach of death in peace; it
will be changed for us into the beginning of the
immortal life. We shall, as St. Paul says,
“not be unclothed, but be clothed upon, that
mortality may be swallowed up of life," and
then we shall see the depth of the mercies
which God has lavished upon our souls.


188
Fénelon.
Selections from
Think, in the presence of God, on all the
proofs of this infinite mercy that you have
experienced; the light which He has given
you, the pure affection which He has inspired,
the sins which He has forgiven, the snares
from which He has saved you, the wonder-
ful aid which He has bestowed upon you.
May your heart be touched by the remem-
brance of all these precious proofs of His
goodness. Add to this the crosses which He
has sent to sanctify you ; for they are drawn
from the depths of His treasury, and you
should look upon them as signal proofs of His
love for you. Let gratitude for the past in-
spire you with trust for the future. Be per-
suaded, timid soul, that He has loved you too
much to cease loving you. Do not distrust
Him ; fear only yourself; remember that He
is “ the Father of mercies and the God of all
consolation.” He sometimes takes away His
consolations from us, but His mercy ever re-
mains.


Bellections.
189
CVII.
ON THE RIGHT EMPLOYMENT OF TIME.
TIME is precious, but we do not compre-
T hend all its value ; we shall know it only
when it will no longer be of any advantage to
us. Our friends make demands upon it, as
if it were nothing, and we bestow it in the
same way. Often it is a burden to us; we
know not what to do with it.
Our whole life belongs to God, as well as
our whole heart ; neither is too much to give
Him. He has bestowed them upon us only
that we may love and serve Him ; let us keep
back nothing from Him. We cannot always
be doing a great work, but we can always be
doing something that belongs to our condi-
tion. To be silent, to suffer, to pray when we
cannot act, is acceptable to God. A disap-
pointment, a contradiction, a harsh word, an
annoyance, a wrong received and endured as
in His presence, is worth more than a long
prayer; and we do not lose time if we bear
its loss with gentleness and patience, provided
the loss was inevitable, and was not caused by
our own fault.


190
Fénelon.
Selections from
Thus spend your days, redeeming the time;
give up vain amusements, useless correspond-
ences, those weak outpourings of the heart
that are only modifications of self-love, and
conversations that dissipate the mind and lead
to no good. Thus you will find time to serve
God; and there is none well employed that
is not devoted to Him.
CVIII.
ON LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOR. ·
“See that ye love one another with a pure heart
fervently.”
THE Apostle teaches us in these words
1 that our charity should lead us to be
always attentive not to give pain to our neigh-
bor. Without this watchfulness, charity, which
droops in this world, would soon die. A word
uttered with haughtiness or unkindness, a
harsh or scornful manner may overcome a
weak spirit. Beings so dear to God, the pre-
cious members of Jesus Christ, should be
treated by us with gentleness. If you neglect
this carefulness, you are lacking in charity;
for one cannot love without showing consider-


Beflections.
191
ation for those whom one loves. This watch-
ful love should fill both mind and heart. It
seems to me that I hear Jesus Christ say to
you as he did to St. Peter, “ Feed my sheep."
CIX.
ON TRUST IN GOD.
"I sleep, but my heart waketh.”
W E sleep in peace in the arms of God,
VV when we yield ourselves up to His
Providence, in a delightful consciousness of
His tender mercies; we no longer seek for
anything, and our whole being reposes in
Him. No more restless uncertainties, no
more anxious desires, no more impatience to
change our place; the place where we are is
God's bosom ; for it is God who has put us
there with His own hands, and who holds us
in His arms. Can we be unsafe where He
has placed us, and where He guards us like a
child who is held and caressed by his mother?
Let us leave all to Him, let us rest in Him.
This confiding repose, in which earthly care
sleeps, is the true vigilance of the heart;


192
Fénelon.
Selections from
yielding itself up to God, with no other sup-
port than Him, it thus watches while we sleep.
СХ.
“ TEACH US TO PRAY.”
T ORD, I know not what I ought to ask
L of Thee ; Thou only knowest what we
need ; Thou lovest me better than I know
how to love myself. O Father ! give to Thy
child that which he himself knows not how
to ask. I dare not ask either for crosses or
consolations; I simply present myself before
Thee, I open my heart to Thee. Behold my
needs which I know not myself ; see and do
according to Thy tender mercy. Smite, or
heal ; depress me, or raise me up ; I adore
all Thy purposes without knowing them; I
am silent; I offer myself in sacrifice; I
yield myself to Thee; I would have no
other desire than to accomplish Thy will.
Teach me to pray ; pray Thyself in me. -


Bellections.
193
CXI.
“WHAT WILT THOU HAVE ME TO DO?”.
“ W HAT wilt Thou have me to do?" I
W am ready to do everything, and to do
nothing, to desire nothing and to desire every-
thing, to suffer without any consolation, and to
take comfort in the sweetest consolations. I
do not say to Thee,“ O God, I will perform the
most difficult acts of self-denial, I will make
striking changes in my conduct.” It is not for
me to decide what I will do. What I will do
is to listen to Thee, and to await the dictates
of Thy law. There is no question of my will ;
it is lost in Thine. Say only what Thou dost
will; for I will all that it pleases Thee to will.
Humiliations of spirit, sacrifices of health, re-
pose, friendship, reputation, inward consola-
tion, peace, this earthly life, and even this
inner support which is a foretaste of eternity,
- all are in Thy hands.
It is not only the worldly and unrighteous
man who fails to find peace, until he turns to
Thee ; but the soul which Thou hast freed
from the bonds of sin can enjoy no peace, if
it still resists, by any reserve and delay, those


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